Social Proof  Part 3:
What to do if you are mugged

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Consider the well known phenomena of ‘bystander apathy’. People have been robbed, raped and even murdered in crowded areas whilst good people looked on but failed to help. Early on a March morning in New York in 1964, thirty eight New York citizens were aware that Catherine Genovese was being stabbed to death. Not one of them phoned the police or attempted to help in any way during the thirty five minutes that the murderous assault lasted.



Why? Because, unless you are a strong natural leader, you tend look to others for behavioural cues. If no-one else is doing anything, the thinking goes, it must mean something is already being done, or there is a good reason for not getting involved.

If (heaven forbid!) you are ever attacked in a crowded place don’t just shout for help. Rather focus your attention one individual, look them in the eye and say: “You with the blue shirt, help me!” You are much more likely to elicit a response because you are appealing to an individual, not a crowd making it much harder to defer responsibility.

The psychology of selling

Of course advertisers use the social proof rule as a matter of course these days, claiming their product is the ‘fastest growing’, ‘largest selling’, or that ‘a million Americans can’t be wrong’ and that this ‘international best seller has sold eleven million copies!’