Social Proof  Part 2:
Incredible Instances of Social Proof in Action

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Headed for a fall

Of course eventually the bottom fell out of the market and people had to sell sell sell. Europe was left wondering what fuss about tulips had been about! Tulip prices soon plunged to less than the present equivalent of a dollar each. Those who had bought a tulip for $76,000, found six weeks later that it was now worth less than one dollar.



You may already be drawing similarities between this and the dot com boom and bust. Again, despite normally-savvy investors’ better judgement, billions of dollars were sunk into companies that with hindsight, had no solid business model. But of course, everyone was doing it – and no-one likes to miss out on an opportunity!

It’s OK - everyone’s doing it!

The more people engage in a particular behaviour the more acceptable this behaviour becomes. And the social proof rule applies whatever the behaviour. Consider these: Nazi Germany, smoking, medieval witch hunts, the wearing of horrendously flared trousers in the 1970’s (guilty!) or the almost standard practice of having body piercing as a ‘fashion accessory.’ All these phenomena are explicable when we understand the power of social proof. If it is the behaviour of the many that it becomes acceptable to the individual. And usually the individual will feel that they have acted because of a logical chain of reasoning.

In one experiment five primed students were told to describe a circular shape as ‘being like a square’. A sixth (un-primed) student, on hearing the others describe the clearly circular object as being like a square, was 81% more likely to also say the round object was square. If the other five students said it was circle like then the sixth student would describe it as being circular. What does this tell us about the psychology of jury service?

And how about the research cited by Cialdini’s book? After a highly publicised death of a famous person the suicide rate increases dramatically in areas where that death has been highly publicised! People already vulnerable it seems decide what to do on the basis of what a celebrity had done! (pg 146 Influence - the psychology of persuasion Robert B. Cialdini).

We frequently assume that the teenage years are a time of rebellion. However it is usually only parents who are rebelled against. Teenagers are often the biggest social conformers when it comes to the behaviour of their own peers; they dress, walk and talk in similar ways to their friends. A truly individualistic, rebellious teenager would not be so dictated to by social proof!

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