1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren voge Obam here. Our podcast headquarters are 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, Georgia. Where as of this publication, we recently 4 00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:17,959 Speaker 1: had a Senate runoff election, which got us thinking once 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: again about the power of the democratic process and of 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: the now ubiquitous I Voted sticker. Voting sticker selfies started 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 1: going viral on Twitter and Instagram during the election and 8 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: are now so popular that people who vote absentee feel 9 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: like they're missing out. Artists around the country have been 10 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: offering I Voted designs for printing at home during this 11 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: election season. There's even a guy in New Jersey determined 12 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: to send a sticker to every person who voted by mail. 13 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: But as inconsequential as stickers might seem, our obsession with 14 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,480 Speaker 1: them makes perfect sense to social science researchers who study 15 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 1: voter turnout and what motivates people to go to the polls. 16 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:03,639 Speaker 1: Old scivic duty is definitely a strong incentive, but so 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: is social status. We spoke with Stefano Della Vigna, an 18 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley and author 19 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: of the study voting to tell others one of many 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 1: fascinating studies proving that we vote in part because we 21 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,200 Speaker 1: want our friends and neighbors to know that we voted. 22 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: His study notes that it's a long established fact that 23 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: of non voters lie to pollsters when asked if they 24 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: voted in the last election. He said, on its face, 25 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: this indicates that people hate to admit to being non voters. 26 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: They face this trade off between telling the truth and 27 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: looking bad or lying. Most people prefer others to see 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: them as voters. It's one thing to lie to a 29 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: stranger with a clipboard, but how much harder is it 30 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 1: to lie to a friend or family member who asks 31 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: if you voted. It's that expectation of being asked and 32 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 1: the cost of lying to someone you know that could 33 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,360 Speaker 1: motivate and on the fence voter to go out and 34 00:02:03,400 --> 00:02:07,840 Speaker 1: cast a ballot. Della Vignia calculates that the potential public 35 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: shame of not voting is enough to boost voter participation 36 00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,720 Speaker 1: by two to three percentage points in a tile election 37 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: such as the runoffs here in Georgia. That can be huge. 38 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: So how do those stickers play into all of this? 39 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: When you slap a voting sticker on your chest, you're 40 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: sending two clear messages to the other members of your 41 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: social network. The first message, obviously, is that I voted. 42 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 1: You're essentially answering the question before it's even asked. The 43 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: second message is implied, but just as strong. Della Vignia said, 44 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: if you see people wearing the sticker on election day, 45 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: you might think, oh, geez, my grandma is going to 46 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: ask me whether I voted. If you're on the fence, 47 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: that might be enough to push you over. Delavignia study 48 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: is not the only research that backs up the sneaky 49 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: power of the I voted sticker. A landmark Swiss study 50 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: back in two thousand five studied voter participation before and 51 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: after a new law allowing voting by mail. This was 52 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 1: government expected voter turnout to increase if voters were given 53 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: the easier option of voting from home. Instead, voter turnout 54 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: actually dropped, especially in smaller towns. Patricia Funk, an author 55 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: of the Swiss study, wrote, as long as poll voting 56 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: was the only option, there was an incentive or pressure 57 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: to go to the polls only to be seen handing 58 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: in the vote. Since in small communities people know each 59 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,640 Speaker 1: other better and gossip about who fulfills civic duties and 60 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:36,520 Speaker 1: who doesn't. The benefits of norm adherents were particularly high 61 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,760 Speaker 1: in this type of community, but when vote by mail 62 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: became an option, the pressure to publicly vote decreased. People 63 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,240 Speaker 1: could just as easily lie and say that they voted 64 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: from home. Voting stickers have been around since, but started 65 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: to gain popularity during the tight year two thousand Bush 66 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: Gore race with its disputed outcome. Social media has taken 67 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: this colorful representation of voting to another level. Not every 68 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: jurisdiction does offer stickers, though at fifteen cents a pop, 69 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: the cost can add up when ordering for thousands or millions, 70 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: but it might be worth it if voter participation increases. 71 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: Facebook experimented with a clickable I Voted button with somewhat 72 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,239 Speaker 1: amazing results. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego 73 00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: tested different versions of the button on sixty one million 74 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: Facebook users. When those Facebook users were shown six profile 75 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,840 Speaker 1: pictures of friends who had already voted, they were two 76 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: point zero eight percent more likely to click the I 77 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: Voted button themselves versus those users who only received the 78 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: information encouraging voting but no pictures of friends. Of course, 79 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: stickers aren't going to solve wider issues of voter suppression, 80 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: but hopefully they can be part of convincing people to 81 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: get out to the polls every time there's a local vote, 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: and that every vote really does count. Yeah. Today's episode 83 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: was written by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Klang. 84 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: For more on this lots of other topics, visit house 85 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,599 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. 86 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,039 Speaker 1: For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart 87 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 88 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:18,360 Speaker 1: favorite shows.