Abstract: Who builds effective networks remains an elusive question in networks research, particularly given mounting evidence that many people feel conflicted or ambivalent about the idea of networking. In this presentation, I will discuss three papers—a theory paper and two empirical papers—highlighting an important piece of the puzzle that has been under-theorized: lay beliefs and attitudes that inhibit networking. Borrowing from the literature on lay theories in motivational psychology, our theoretical model specifies different beliefs laypeople hold about social networks: the nature of social intelligence, social relations, and social capital. I explain how lay beliefs affect people’s attitudes toward both the utility and morality of networking, with implications for who disengages from networking, and why. I then show initial evidence demonstrating that lay theories help predict who resents—and thus disengages from—networking as well as (female) networkers. Our experimental studies also show how such attitudes can be mitigated. Overall, this project contributes to a more complete understanding of the motivational psychology of networking by considering what people actually believe or feel about networking.

Funding for DINR's speaker series for the current academic year has been made possible by a grant from Dartmouth's Neukom Institute and by a generous gift in support of the Quantitative Social Sciences at Dartmouth.

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