User:Jason Malone vt/sandbox

Sources that I will use and cite, https://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.matthew.effect.htm

https://www.readingrockets.org/articles/researchbytopic/4862

https://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/the-matthew-effect-what-is-it-and-how-can-you-avoid-it-in-your-classroom/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4233686/

In the beginning, Matthew effects were primarily focused on the inequality in the way scientists were recognized for their work. However, Norman Storer, of Columbia University, led a new wave of research. He believed he discovered that the inequality that existed in the social sciences also existed in other institutions. The Matthew effect plays a role in today's educational system. Students around the United States participate in the SAT every year to then send those scores to the colleges they are applying too. The distributor of the SAT, the College board, conducted a study based on the income earned by the families of the test takers. The results showed the Matthew effect is prevalent when it comes to a family's economic earnings. "Students from families earning more than $200,000 a year average a combined score of 1,714, while students from families earning under $20,000 a year average a combined score of 1,326." Not only do students with a wealthier family score better, but statistics show that students with parents that have accomplished more in school perform better as well,"A student with a parent with a graduate degree, for example, on average scores 300 points higher on their SATs compared to a student with a parent with only a high school degree. Example of the Matthew Effect’s role on social influence.

Salganik, Dodds, and Watts created an experimental virtual market named MUSICLAB. In MUSICLAB, people could listen to music and choose to download the songs they enjoyed the most. The song choices were unknown songs produced by unknown bands. There were two groups tested; one group was given zero additional information on the songs and one group was told the popularity of each song and the amount of times it had previously been downloaded.

As a result, the group that saw which songs were the most popular and were downloaded the most were then bias to choose those songs as well. The songs that were most popular and downloaded the most stayed at the top of the list and consistently received the most plays. To summarize the experiments findings, the performance rankings had the largest effect boosting expected downloads the most. Download rankings had a decent effect; however, not as impactful as the performance rankings. Also, Abeliuk et al. (2016) proved that when utilizing “performance rankings”, a monopoly will be created for the most popular songs.

Abeliuk, Andrés, et al. “The Benefits of Social Influence in Optimized Cultural Markets.” Plos One, vol. 10, no. 4, 2015, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0121934.

Taming the Matthew Effect in Online Markets with Social Influence Franco Berbeglia Pascal Van Hentenryck

Berbeglia, Franco, and Pascal Van Hentenryck. Taming the Matthew Effect in Online Markets with Social Influence. Taming the Matthew Effect in Online Markets with Social Influence. Salganik, Matthew J., et al. Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market. 2006, pp. 1–15, Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market.