I totally agree with your take on this study – I thought the same thing. I wish I could get funding to make factless studies and stupid statistics. Woe is me.

It’s certainly not hard to assert the reverse case, that Asperger’s Spectrum (which is tightly linked with genetic factors and the neo-cortex) could dispose you against popularity, because of lack of aptitude for awareness of social environments and cues.

–Dave

This study shows more than oh, popularity is partially genetic. The authors contend these findings give a window into human’s evolutionary past. It was advantageous to be in the center of social networks, the ability to interact made you more likely to survive and reproduce. Neato.

Additionally, these findings question current modeling techniques for social networking. In current models, each person in a network is seen as interchangeable; their person attributes don’t really come into play. But with these results, a new model for social networking was developed. And social networking is more than just Facebook or MySpace, networking models can also address public health concerns. Why wouldn’t scientists be interested in modeling obesity or flu epidemics? Research can be done outside of the obvious fields (i.e. cancer) and yet be worthwhile. Your view is short-sighted and simplistic. If nothing else, please take from this, the need to read the primary source material.

Could they have found something better to conduct a study on? Sure. Doesn’t take much to realize that pretty parents make pretty children and pretty is popularity.