The Goldilocks Effect: Balancing Innovation and Familiarity in Product Adoption

Wharton professor Jonah Berger explains how social influence shapes consumer behavior and product adoption through the Goldilocks Effect—the principle that successful innovations must balance novelty with familiarity. He demonstrates how companies can overcome the invisibility of influence by incrementally introducing changes that are neither too disruptive nor too familiar, using real-world examples like the Segway failure versus the successful Horsey Horseless carriage.