Prestige status requires explanation as information-goods access.

Evidence

First, by contrast with dominant individuals, prestigious individuals are truly persuasive, meaning that their subordinates actually shift their views closer to those of the prestigious individual. It’s not clear why exchanging deference for mates or allies should result in actual opinion shifts, rather than merely causing shifts in superficially expressed agreement. Similarly, people preferentially imitate prestigious individuals, using a variety of cues to figure out from whom to copy. People copy everything from food preferences to charitable giving from prestigious people, even when there’s no chance they will ever actually meet the prestigious person. — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 1218

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Humans copy even fitness-destroying practices when prestige cues are present; Trust can ride on mistaken identity and third-party prestige — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 641; A guarantor’s reputation rests on asymmetric information holdings (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Trust can ride on mistaken identity and third-party prestige #expands (0.75) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 641
• A guarantor’s reputation rests on asymmetric information holdings #corroborates (0.72)