[inaudible conversations] good evening and welcome those newcomers and repeat offenders. If you look around you notice in impenetrable books are out there in the world. That being the case it is always refreshing to find one whose impact with the proportion to the length and have to and the Tipping Point is one of those books with from time to time a work appears that acts as a decongestant for the brain , one strong spray and the intellectual passages clear up even if they were blocked in the first place. Now we can grasp the things around us were always looking at and the effect on the reader can be rather intoxicating. Once again it is that kind of book to ask the kinds of questions a child might ask on the tip of the tongue the name on the brain and we find it hard to focus on not despite the obviousness why didnt anybody think of this before . And then what makes things catch on and take off and ideas and products fads and trends in fashion cultural phenomenon and you may find the simplest questions often require the most difficult answers that are the most difficult for an author to articulate. And to Malcolm Gladwells credit he has given us an answer in a book thats very modest that you can see but with odd insight and even elegance if you know what i mean. It tastes great and is good for you at the same time. The likely phenomenon the Tipping Point itself has taken off know the sales figures for instance for Daytona Beach but hearing cambridge second in importance only to the red sox this is a hot book. Tonight we will talk about the book and do some reading from it and open it for your questions and his answers and a general discussion if you like to buy a copy the Tipping Point is on and National Bestseller list available 40 percent off. At the end of the presentation and to sign a copy for you. Now we will turn it over to Malcolm Gladwell. [applause] thats a very generous introduction. Thank you very much. As i have gone around the country told me told me what not to do somebody had a whodunit and read the last three pages and wondered why nobody bought the book. I will not read the last three pages. I will read a couple of short segments. And then ill take questions this is a book about plying to social change. With the weird and interesting and provocative. That epidemic that took place in the South Pacific one South Pacific. And allow us to think about the epidemic also. A 17 yearold boy got into an argument with his father. So when his father a stern and demanding man told him to fan the bamboo pole knife we spent hours in the village and then they would even go hungry get out here and go find someone he left his grandfathers house and walked out to the home village. Two hours later curious later he went looking for him and returned and looked in the window. Hanging from the noose was the may he was dead and the suicide note read my life is coming to an end now today is the day of sorrow for myself and suffering but also a day for celebration because today papa sent me away. Thank you for loving me so little. In the early sixties suicide in micronesia was almost unknown but for reasons know when understood began to rise leaps and bounds until by the end of the eighties more suicides in micronesia than anywhere in the world males between 15 and 24 the suicide rate in the United States is 22 per 100,000 and micronesia 160 per 100,000, seven times higher. Suicide is almost commonplace. And then that was hardly unusual committing suicide because they saw other adults do it and the parents refuse to get a few extra dollars for beer. At 19. One nature doesnt hang themselves because you get a graduation gift a 70 know that because his older brother said he made too much noise. In micronesia a ritual and with those suicides are identical of a variations late teens unmarried. And then to be domestic and in three quarters of the cases the victims never tried or attempted suicide before. And then wounded pride of selfpity. Usually after out drinking with friends and they had the same procedures with the strict unwritten protocol. He takes the rope and makes a noose. He ties it to low branch and then leans forward so the weight of his body cuts off this flow of blood to the brain. In micronesia they say these rituals are embedded in the local culture. As the number of suicide has grown then to transform so that the unthinkable has been rendered think of all. Widespread in certain micronesian communities and then to compose locally on radio stations. And then to have a certain familiarity. And then it seems to be trivialized. Suicide asked seem to have been acquired and experimental recreational element. There is something very chilling about this passage it is is supposed to be trivialized like this but its how familiar it seems. Here with the contagion epidemic of selfdestruction by the spirit of experimentation rebellion keeping in mind that somehow among teenagers that is an important form of selfexpression. In a strange way the epidemic sounds like teenage smoking in the west. The rest of that chapter is the attempt to look at our problem with teenage smoking. And these are both expressions of the same fundamental impulse of adolescent culture. Selfdestructive behaviors. Played out in different ways but if you can explain the ways that are traumatic you can better appreciate what is going on equally problematic. And look at columbine and School Violence another way that has come to take on a significance and what is interested is that the extent that is surrounded by all these layers of symbolism and meaning in ritual and that they do quite the same way is incredibly important one of the reasons smoking is so powerful is it comes with a whole culture attached to it but what worries me the most with the epidemic of School Shootings is the extent to which to take on that same element. And it was scary because all the layers the trenchcoat the Computer Culture and also to roll about the media. If columbine represents a contagious does selfdestructive behavior should we be talking about it . And should we be mindful of the went on to that extent. Are we aiding and abetting this process . Thats one chapter. I understand its a heavy subject. Much of the book is a much lighter tone i assure you. And that has always resonated with me because if you read into these accounts what happened micronesia and that theory and striking. I have a whole chapter with the idea for an idea to become contagious of an epidemic it has to be contagious. We never talk about epidemics of the common cold because it doesnt stay around and comes and goes. You can still go to work but epidemic with the flu you are sick and on your back. And those that succeed for the same reason to have an additional quality. That is a banal observation but if you look at successful epidemics then you get into cool areas. And the chapter and concerned with Childrens Television and in particular. And those that founded the show paid extraordinary attention to the idea. They wanted to find how to hold the attention of kids but in such a way they can remember what they were seeing was sticking in their brain for some profound way so there is a time in the late sixties and if how the brain works then you can look at how that makes impact on their health. And all those really cool things that they do to engineer to make this extraordinary impact. What im about to read is a little section from ed palmer. You talk to people and was the research i. So to read as section and i will mention in the course of this will also be quoting jerry lesser. Innovation was something he called the distractor playing sesame street on the dell Television Monitor and then to show a new slide every seven and a half seconds. To have a boy riding on the street with his arms down picture of a Tall Building a rainbow and a picture taking. Anything could be novel. Quietly noting when they were watching sesame street and when they lost interest. Every time it changed they would make a new notation by the end of the show we almost had a second by second account of what part of the episode held their attention and what did not. The distractor was the machine. We had data points for every seven. Five seconds 400 data points for a Single Program we connect all of those with a redline like a stock market report. Sometimes they could hug the top of the chart we would say its really grabbing the attention of the kids. We had have 100 percent sometimes. If the producers got that they were happy it was 50 percent they go back to the drink drawing board. Never see anything 50 to 60 percent anymore and if we did we would fix it. Darwin survival of the fittest and then to decide what should survive now thats a familiar thing but it was invented by sesame street an incredible amount of research with television and ideas how to make Television Work moves into the mainstream from there. You could argue legitimately the best Television Show ever in terms of its structure. But i will continue on. The most important thing came at the very beginning summer of 1969 a month and a half and we decided lets go for broke five shows one hour agency what we got. And then what destroyed us. In of those elements and with that mixed fantasy and reality. And that involved only real shelter. But in philadelphia as soon as they switched the street scene the kids lost all interest that was supposed to be the glue. And then the kids werent interested. We were getting crank credibly low attention levels. They were leaving the show. We can afford to keep losing like that. And then to promise a turning point we knew if we kept the street that way the show would die. Everything was happening so fast we would go on the air in the fall we had to figure out what to do so would we defy the opinion and decided to write a letter to all development of psychologist to say we know how you feel mixing fantasy and reality but we will do it anyway because if we dont will be dead in the water so they reshot all the Street Scenes jim henson and a coworkers created puppets that can walk and talk to live alongside the street. Now we now think of the essence of sesame street monsters and adults grow that desperate desire its a wonderful illustration of the theme of the book. Big bird saved sesame street without big bird that show as we know it all the revolution that we have seen may never have happened over the last 25 years. Not until they added an extra element the kids were interested in the part of the show they needed to be which is the Street Scenes with the adults. And how you dont know would make something work but a lot of the times that little extra critical element you cannot have anticipated. Sometimes the difference between being a failure and success is something incredibly subtle. In between a successor here is the big bird in the last section the first section is the idea behind this is the epidemiology epidemics turn out to be sustained by a small number of people. Like some case studies that demonstrated this. We think of epidemics as a function of the behavior of a large group of people and thats not true. Like with hiv it was commonly supposed aides hit among the gay communities of San Francisco and new york because of the high levels of Sexual Activity among many members of the gay community. That was the assumption but its wrong it is the extraordinarily high level of the tiny fraction and that observation is consistent with the way epidemics work they all have that function. So i said what amounts and epidemic or social epidemic with a piece of information of the virus lets suppose that is true a very small number of people who are way out there tracking these epidemics i decided it is three groups. So i find people who demonstrate these are wild and hilarious and weird people. So what im about to read is section of these people who are unusually persuasive and i try to figure out what makes somebody persuasive . And they play a key role in social epidemics . Summer on the sidelines. I didnt go to see titanic willingly but i was dragged there by somebody. That is true by many we join because somebody convinces us. People are incredibly persuasive represents an interesting and significant Personality Group so who is the most persuasive man in america it turns out it is a guy named tom gallo who is a Financial Planner and he is so good at what he does he spends most of his time hanging out he only works the bare minimum. In that world theres a world of people who are obsessed with charisma and he is a man they all worship i had to figure out why is he this extraordinary character . And at this point in the chapter i will not redo the whole section, but i will read im hanging out with him and talking about the idea that when people talk they engage in this elaborate and subtle dance if you so the videotape down if you are videotaping how they interact in this weird way. If i was talking to you we would start to synchronize our movements and as i moved my shoulders then your shoulder would move in harmony with me. And its a kind of rhythm. So people like tom gower persuasive because they dictate the terms of the dance. When Elvis Presley went on tour in the fifties as the extraordinary charismatic figure, it at his concert they would be in tune every move you made they would move with him. There are Elvis Presleys one to one and the same thing could happen in the course of an ordinary conversation. Im struggling my this man is not the kind of person to whom i would normally be john irresistibly. A Financial Planner in Southern California and wears cowboy boots and has a mustache after five minutes of meeting him i went to sign over my entire assets to him believe me. I came in with all of my cynical journalist impulses were front and center and still i was like tom. [laughter] so why does he blow me away . Im picking up in the middle of this discussion about the testing crazy and his powers when two people talk it is dont fall into harmony it is motor mimicry initial people of smiling or frowning face they will smile or frown back into so fleeting they could only be captured with electronic sensors. If i have a hammer most people would grimace they will mimic my emotional state this is empathy. And then we need to express support and even more basically as a way of communicating and in the 1994 book emotional contagion the psychologist go further and then by one of the means of which we infect each other with our emotions. If i smile and you smile in response it takes no more than several milliseconds is not just you militating on imitating but also a way to pass on my happiness to you emotion is contagious. All of us have had her spirits picked up if you think about this closely we think of the expressions on our face i feel happy so i smile i feel sad so i found emotion goes inside out emotional contagion suggest the opposite is also true if i can make you smile i can make you happy if i can make you frown i can make you sad emotion and a sense goes outside in if you think of emotions outside in it is possible to understand how some people can have the enormous amount of influence over others some of us are good at expressing emotions and means we are far more emotionally contagious centers and special personalities they report there are huge differences in the location of facial muscles and a situation there are carriers and people who are especially perceptible the mechanism is the same a psychologist at the university of California Riverside developed the Effective Communication test to have emotion be contagious. Thirteen questions related if you can keep still if you hear good dance music with you touch friends when you talk to them or if you are the center of attention. The highest possible score is 117 points what does it mean to be a high score with that fascinating experiment scoring very high on his test but scoring lower around 60 that is the question youre imagining how they felt and then to put all the high scores and compared each with two low scores they were told to sit in a room together for two minutes. They can look at each other but not talk then they were asked again how they were feeling at that instance in just two minutes he found the low scores ended up picking up the moves of the high scores if they started off depressed and the other start off happy by the end of the two minutes the other person was depressed as well but it did not work the other way only the charismatic person could affect the other with his or her emotions. Is this what tom gallo did to me . He had the range of an opera singer at times he was stern or drawl or chuckle as he spoke making the word sing with laughter his face would light up accordingly moving from one state to another and the ambiguity in this demonstration everything was written in his face i could see my own face but im guess it was a close mirror later i called him up to take the test to add to the list . Questionmark question he started to chuckle at question number 11 i am terrible at pantomime. He said im great at that. He scored 116. So there is a little taste of the first section. I can keep reading now i am undercutting your incentive that i would be delighted to take questions if anybody has any. What are the one or two things you regret much that didnt make the final edit that you really liked. I got carried away with one chapter and at one point it was a huge massive deconstruction of the phenomenon and i regret actually that some of that had to go. Where the cool things about sesame street is that jim henson was picked because he was an advertising he had the hottest ad shop on madison avenue so if jim hansen can sell a lot of the muppets were developed as corporate pitchman the version of big bird was the alleged way dragon adding grover was originally developed to work for ibm. But if he can sell soy sauce and he can sell the three rs in four minutes and thats why they wanted him on board so it is this obsession with the advertisement in the sixties and the show was the most effective way to reach a ki