Includes bibliographical references and index.

The adult playground : where popularity still matters -- Boorish bully or likable leader : there's more than one type of popularity -- The problems with popularity : what's wrong with what we want? -- Herds and headaches : how our bodies are programmed to care about popularity -- The popularity boomerang : how we create the world we live in -- Our high school legacy : how we can conquer the prom queen today -- Clicks and cliques : what's not to "like"? -- Parenting for popularity : can Mom and Dad make a difference, and should they? -- Most likely to succeed : choosing the type of popularity we want.

"Popular examines why popularity plays such a key role in our development and, ultimately, how it still influences our happiness and success today. In many ways--some even beyond our conscious awareness--those old dynamics of our youth continue to play out in every business meeting, every social gathering, in our personal relationships, and even how we raise our children. Our popularity even affects our DNA, our health, and our mortality in fascinating ways we never previously realized. More than childhood intelligence, family background, or prior psychological issues, research indicates that it's how popular we were in our early years that predicts how successful and how happy we grow up to be. But it's not always the conventionally popular people who fare the best, for the simple reason that there is more than one type of popularity--and many of us still long for the wrong one. As children, we strive to be likable, which can offer real benefits not only on the playground but throughout our lives. In adolescence, though, a new form of popularity emerges, and we suddenly begin to care about status, power, influence, and notoriety--research indicates that this type of popularity hurts us more than we realize. Realistically, we can't ignore our natural human social impulses to be included and well-regarded by others, but we can learn how to manage those impulses in beneficial and gratifying ways."--Amazon.com.