Jonah Berger Explained

Jonah Berger
Birth Place:	Washington, D.C.
Occupation:	^[1]
Known For:	Contagious: Why Things Catch OnThe Catalyst: How To Change Anyone's MindInvisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior
Website:	http://jonahberger.com/

Jonah Berger is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an author, and a viral marketer.^[2] He has published over 50 articles in academic journals, and has written for The New York Times,^{[3] [4]} The Wall Street Journal,^[5] and Harvard Business Review.^{[6] [7]} More than a million copies of his books Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior, and The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind^[8] are in print in over 35 countries.

Berger often keynotes major conferences and events like SXSW and Cannes Lions and consults for organizations like Apple Inc., Google,^[8] Nike, Amazon, GE, 3M, and the Gates Foundation.^[9]

Biography

Berger grew up in Washington, D.C., and Chevy Chase, Maryland, and attended the magnet program at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring.^[10] He attended Stanford University and earned a B.A. in Human Judgment and Decision Making in 2002 and a Ph.D. in marketing from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2007.^[11] Berger writes about psychology, marketing, social influence, and virality as a LinkedIn influencer.^[12]

Publications

Books

• Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Simon & Schuster, 2013
  • Amazon Best book of 2013^[13]
  • Audible Best Audiobook of 2013 ^[14]
• Invisible Influence: The Hidden Factors that Shape Behavior, Simon & Schuster, 2016
• The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone's Mind (2020)
• Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way (2023)

Selected articles

• Berger, Jonah and Grant Packard (2018), “Are Atypical Things More Popular?” Psychological Science, 29(7), 1178–1184.
• Packard, Grant and Jonah Berger (2017), “How Language Shapes Word of Mouth’s Impact,” Journal of Marketing Research, 54(4), 572–588.
• Akpinar, Ezgi and Jonah Berger (2015), “Drivers of Cultural Evolution: The Case of Sensory Metaphors,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109 (1), 20–34.
• Berger, Jonah (2014) “Word-of-Mouth and Interpersonal Communication: A Review and Directions for Future Research” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 24(4), 586–607.
• Berger, Jonah and Katy Milkman (2012), “What Makes Online Content Viral?” Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (2), 192–205.
• Berger, Jonah and Raghuram Iyengar (2013), “Communication Channels and Word of Mouth: How the Medium Shapes the Message,” Journal of Consumer Research, October.
• Zoey Chen and Jonah Berger (2013), “When, Why, and How Controversy Causes Conversation,” Journal of Consumer Research, October.
• Berger, Jonah, Eric Bradlow, Alex Braunstein, and Yao Zhang (2012), “From Karen to Katie: Using Baby names to Study Cultural Evolution” Psychological Science, 23 (10), 1067–1073.
• Sela, Aner and Jonah Berger (2012), “Decision Quicksand: How Trivial Choice Suck Us In” Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 360–370.
• Berger, Jonah and Eric Schwartz (2011), “What Drives Immediate and Ongoing Word of Mouth?” Journal of Marketing Research, October, 869–880.
• Berger, Jonah and Devin Pope (2011), “Can Losing Lead to Winning?” Management Science, 57(5), 817–827.
• Berger, Jonah, Alan T. Sorensen, and Scott J. Rasmussen (2010), “Positive Effects of Negative Publicity: When Negative Reviews Increase Sales,” Marketing Science, 29(5), 815–827.
• Berger, Jonah and Gael Le Mens (2009), “How Adoption Speed Affects the Abandonment of Cultural Tastes,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 8146–8150.
• Berger, Jonah, Marc Meredith, and S. Christian Wheeler (2008), “Contextual Priming: Where People Vote Affects How They Vote,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105 (26), 8846–8849.
• Berger, Jonah and Gráinne M. Fitzsimons (2008), “Dogs on the Street, Pumas on Your Feet: How Cues in the Environment Influence Product Evaluation and Choice,” Journal of Marketing Research, 45(1), 1–14.
• Berger, Jonah and Chip Heath (2007), “Where Consumers Diverge from Others: Identity-Signaling and Product Domains,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34(2), 121–134.

Awards

• The American Marketing Association (AMA) Top 5 Most Productive Researchers in Marketing^[15]
• The Association for Consumer Research (ACR) Early Career Award for Contribution to Consumer Research^[16]
• The Society for Consumer Psychology (SCP) Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Consumer Psychology^[17]
• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Iron Professor Award for Awesome Faculty Research^[18]
• The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania MBA Teaching Commitment and Curricular Innovation Award, 2011^[19]
• New York Times, Year in Ideas^[20]

External links

• Official site
• Faculty page at Wharton
• NPR Interview with Jonah Berger

Notes and References

1. News: Clark. Dorie. How to Create Viral Content. 6 March 2014. Forbes.
2. News: Sacks. Danielle. "Fifty Percent Of 'The Tipping Point' Is Wrong." Jonah Berger Shows You Which Half. 6 March 2014. Fast Company.
3. Web site: Readers Don't Like to Be Fooled. . en. 2018-04-19.
4. News: Why That Video Went Viral. Kitroeff. Natalie. 2014-05-19. The New York Times. 2018-04-19. en-US. 0362-4331.
5. News: Why You Just Shared That Baby Video. Lehrer. Jonah. 2011-07-23. Wall Street Journal. 2018-04-19. en-US. 0099-9660.
6. News: When Controversy Sparks Buzz—and When It Doesn't. 2014-04-01. Harvard Business Review. 2018-04-19.
7. News: The Goldilocks Theory of Product Success. 2016-07-07. Harvard Business Review. 2018-04-19.
8. News: Anderson. Kare. The Secret Behind Why Things Catch On. 6 March 2014. Forbes.
9. Web site: Jonah Berger. Berger. Jonah. Jonah Berger. 6 March 2014.
10. News: Henderson . Nia-Malika . Jonah Berger: "Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior" . The Diane Rehm Show . WAMU . June 14, 2016.
11. News: Markovich . Jeremy . Inside the Curious Mind of Jonah Berger . 29 August 2018 . Wharton Magazine . Spring/Summer 2017 .
12. Web site: Jonah Berger - Marketing Department. University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School. Marketing.wharton.upenn.edu. 6 March 2014.
13. Web site: Amazon.com: Business & Investing: Books. Amazon.com. 27 October 2021.
14. Web site: Best Audiobooks of 2013 | Business | Audible.com . www.audible.com . 25 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052527/http://www.audible.com/mt/Best_of_2013Business/ref=amb_link_396753542_13?ie=UTF8&pf_rd_m=A2ZO8JX97D5MN9&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=0A5CHH8BJ0Y1RFKZZZQB&pf_rd_p=1687033542&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=Best_of_2013 . 4 March 2016 . dead.
15. Web site: (2013). Docsig.org. 2 September 2018.
16. Web site: ACR Early Career Award - ACR. Acrwebsite.org. 2 September 2018.
17. Web site: Society for Consumer Psychology: Honorees. https://web.archive.org/web/20130324234737/http://www.myscp.org/about/honorees.aspx. dead. 24 March 2013. 24 March 2013. 2 September 2018.
18. Web site: 2011 Wharton Business Plan Competition "Great Eight" Finalists Vie for over $116,000 in Prizes, VC Interest - News. 12 April 2011. Upenn.edu. 2 September 2018.
19. Web site: Wharton's SPIKE® - MBA Program Office. Spike.wharton.upenn.edu. 2 September 2018.
20. Web site: Voting-Booth Feng Shui. Adrienne. Davich. 10 December 2006. 27 October 2021. The New York Times.