Birds of a Feather

Abstract

At Disney World, the name tags of Cast Members (as they like to call themselves) are magical. I remember laying eyes on these name tags on a family vacation and thinking, in a flash, that Walt Disney was a psychological genius. Why? Well, for one thing, right off the bat, my family was on a first-name basis with every Cast Member we met. This subtle cue was one a way for Walt to make the millions of Disney World visitors—including us—feel at home. Even better, right under their first name, printed in bold, capital letters, was each Cast Member's hometown or college. This small detail had the effect of turning a total stranger into a real person, with a childhood and a life story. What's more, it led effortlessly to connections like these: “Detroit! My Aunt Sue lived near there. Do you know a little town called Pinckney?” In other words, the name tags of Disney Cast Members are, effectively, a social belonging intervention. Because a big part of social belonging is feeling like you have something in common with the people around you.