Birthday-number effect

The tendency for people to prefer numbers that appear in their birth dates, especially their birth day or month.

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Implicit egotism: The tendency to favor people, places, or things associated with oneself, often without conscious awareness. The birthday-number effect is one proposed expression of preference for self-associated stimuli.
Brett Pelham: A social psychologist whose research includes implicit egotism and preferences linked to personal names and dates. Pelham and colleagues helped establish birthday-number preferences as an example of implicit egotism.
Implicit egotism and career choice: The hypothesis that people may be drawn to careers whose names resemble their own names or birthdays. Birthday-number preferences prompted claims that personal numbers might influence major life choices.
Self-enhancement: The tendency to maintain or increase positive views of oneself. The birthday-number effect can be interpreted as self-liking, but number familiarity offers a less evaluative account.
Mere-exposure effect: The tendency for repeated exposure to increase liking for a stimulus. Repeatedly encountering birth-date numbers may make them feel more familiar and likable.
Implicit egotism research: Research examining whether people favor objects and outcomes associated with their own names and identities. Birthday-number preferences were studied as one possible form of this broader pattern.
Implicit egotism and place choice: The hypothesis that people favor places whose names or features resemble aspects of their identities. It extends the proposed self-association pattern from numbers to real-world destinations.
Numerical frequency illusion: The impression that something has become unusually common after it has recently attracted attention. Noticing birth-date numbers more often can resemble preference without demonstrating actual liking.
Self-reference effect: The memory advantage for information processed in relation to oneself. Birth dates give certain numbers a personal link that can make them especially salient.
Name-letter effect: The tendency for people to prefer letters appearing in their own names. It is a closely related self-association effect studied alongside birthday-number preferences.