What causes popularity/unpopularity?

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In Sweden, where I live, being attractive usually gets people hated because it makes them seem as a little "above" the rest. This is a collectivist country and being too good or having too much of anything here will get you hated, especially when it comes to looks and material wealth.

It's not like all aspies are ugly freaks who are good at maths but lack the ability to present a respectable appearance.

It just depends on the politics of wherever you are.
But I wouldn't worry about it.

I'd rather be academic all the way
I love the unpopulars. The farther down the ladder you are the better.

If you want to understand what makes people popular, I direct you to three cultural fads of the past 30 years: Heathers, Mean Girls and the TV show Popular.

Popularity is based on two essential traits (an observation Tina Fay used for her screenplay for Mean Girls): respect through love or respect through fear. Both of those states of nature are predicated on having confidence.

Since most people don't tend to be personally secure enough in themselves in high school (and quite often, permanently) to stand out on their own, people who are popular tend to generate attention through personal gravitas. What I mean is this: a confident girl who is sweet, kind and well-liked but confident in herself will generate attention from people as much as a bitchy, gossipy girl who is confident in her ability to cause damage socially to others.

In both cases, the vast, vast majority of people in a high school environment will go with what is socially safe and secure. The awesome, open nice girl who still speaks her mind and is confident in herself will be popular. Hence, respect through love.

Meanwhile, the cruel, nasty and bitchy girl will instill obedience, loyalty and fear in others. Most people aren't secure in themselves enough to a) not care what she thinks or b) consider a life best lived outside of high school, so those with little self-respect or self-esteem will naturally gravitate towards her. Hence, respect through fear.

Just my opinion, but popularity has little to nothing to do with what music you like, what you wear or which gadgets you have. It has everything to do with confidence and how you choose to display that confidence.

As sad as that is, it's true.

However, I'm an honor student, and have a good amount of friends, however, I've noticed that if you want good grades, you have to focus on schoolwork, and the other half is you want to be cool, but you have to not focus on schoolwork.

I remember back when I WASN't in honors, I heard this girl mentioning to her friend that, "I really don't have time to do homework. I've got a life." (I'll admit, this sounded so stupid. She made it sound like if you're a good student, you have no life.) "I got to go to work, take care of my dog, I've gotta hang out with my friends(!?)"

Since when is "hanging out with friends" a job? I mean, yeah, hanging out with friends is cool, but it's not a job required to be done. Obviously, she's just saying, "I'm just being lazy and don't wanna do good." Period.

The thing that makes me laugh, is that within the next ten years, she'll probably be saying, "I wish I had done good in school. Because right now, I HAVE NO LIFE!"

I think that being popular is all about being athletic, confident or being friends with these people. Also, being wealthy or good-looking helps, but isn't necessary.

I think it comes from a person's ability to charm large crowds of people....even if it takes acting differently in one crowd vs another.

Actually, having musical talent just makes you a band geek. So I'd take that out of the Popular Category, unless you get more specific...

Realisitically it's all about power in a way. Wealth, attractiveness and charisma and all different expressions of power or ways to obtain it. That sounds incredibly jaded but it is largely the way the social structure is organised.

lol me and my brother was talking about this today. i just respect people, until they disrespect me. even then i respect them, until it gets out of hand

I reject the idea that popularity has one defining requirement, or even multiple ones, especially manipulation. If manipulation capability was the determiner of popularity, I'd be the most popular person anywhere I went.

As I understand it, in Japan, academic ability assists in a person's ability to become popular, for example (please correct me if I am wrong). In America, this is actually a detriment.

Popularity in a particular group, region, or even country is based off of how capable a person is with what that area values. Money is important in some groups and regions, whereas a taste and knowledge of high culture is valued in others. In America as a whole, strength and athleticism is a primary determiner of popularity, as America values these attributes greatly.

The reason why academic aptitude is a detriment in America comes from the fact that intelligence is often associated with cunning and, interestingly enough, manipulation. When manipulation is done right, the manipulated person never knows that they're being manipulated. As such, there is no test for a great manipulator, intelligence is what makes people suspicious of such things.

All these reasons are traced back to a group's, region's, and country's culture, which can be traced through their history. If ever you feel like becoming popular in any particular group, just find out what that group values. I am popular in groups that value academic ability and don't care about social aptitude. This has, in my personal history, made me popular with teachers and unpopular with most groups of students.

By the way, what makes a particular group popular is their abilities that are valued at a regional or national level.

Being popular is about being noticed and annoying the least amount of people as possible. So i think it comes down to how good a manipulator and/or a liar you are. Concealing what you actually think about people is probably one of the most important skills to have.