| Social Proof or Why we like what other people like |
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On a cold morning of January 2007, a young man wearing jeans, a baseball hat and a T-shirt stopped next to a trash can in one of Washington's DC most central subway stations. He looked around for a moment and then, with some hesitation, he pulled a violin out of a small case. However, nobody seemed to notice him: People were rushing to get to their jobs, the kiosk was selling some morning newspapers and in the lottery line some people were waiting to get a free ticket for a violin concert. The stranger took some coins out of his pocket and put them in the open case that was lying between his feet, hoping to convince people to give him some money. After a small pause that would make Paganini look puzzled, the young man finally started playing his violin. He was quite good but that didn't make a lot of difference in that cold morning. He played continuously for 45 minutes and during that time few, pitifully few people actually stopped and payed attention to the stranger. Some not sure of what they should do gave him some coins and walked away in a hurry: "What a poor guy, playing music for pennies...". After playing a total of 6 musical pieces, he paused and looked at his money case. Inside there was a small pile: All he had made was 32$. He picked up his pride, he took his money, he packed his violin and with a quick gait, he exited the L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station. He then did something bizarre: He took a cab. What would Sherlock Holmes do if he was around ? Well, he would put some tobacco in his pipe and he would look really puzzled. But in our case he wasn't there, so he didn't put any. Hmmm.... Why would the violin player spent his money on something like that ? What was even more strange is that the stranger lived ONLY 3 blocks away. Sherlock Holmes would ask Watson if he had any tobacco left from that fine one they bought together in Morocco. He would clearly need it to crack THIS case. The real reason behind his decision to spent his money like that, was his violin's price-tag: A staggering 3.5 million dollars. A normal price for a 300-year-old Stradivarius and quite a good choice for a top musician like him: Joshua Bell is one of the finest classical musicians on this planet and to get a seat at one of his violin concerts, would cost you at least 100$ given that your seat was in the back of the concert hall. Waaaaaay in the back. However all he made was 32$. Quite strange for a man that wins 1000$/min. Joshua Bell was actually performing an experiment for Washington Post. Washington Post counted that 1,097 people passed by without even flinching, 27 gave him money and walked off and 7 people actually stopped and listened to the music, when many of them were actually waiting for a free concert ticket. How on earth could that happen ?? Meet Informational Social Influence - AKA Social Proof When Washington Post did that experiment, they were expecting to see that people could recognise true beauty in a common setting, such as in a metro station. What they forgot though, was that humans are highly social beings. We are born and raised in groups and we learn from day one that: "When we are not sure how to behave, we prefer to do what the majority is doing". This rule is the essence of Informational Social Influence, a quite nasty term that keeps only brave students in the domain of Social Psychology. Many of those courageous students decided that the joke title should go away and it was time to call it differently: Social Proof theory . Human beings look for Social Proof whenever the two following elements come in alignment: a) The situation is ambiguous or there are 'unlimited options' to choose from. Now, don't get me wrong, but to have an 'ambiguous situation' we don't need hell of a lot. Anytime there are more than 7 pieces of new information, every time there seems to be an unknown danger, or every time there are new things that may happen, we seem to experience a sudden... lack of decision power for as to what we should do.
Here is a list of situations that would make an average person feel at least confused, intimidated or a bold, healthy combination of both: - A large social gathering. When we find ourselves in groups greater than ten, then we are intimidated by the sheer number of people. - A visit at a night club or a bar. Too much sexual competition, too many partners to chose from, too many god damn people all together. - A visit at the front page of Reddit, Digg or any other social bookmarking site. Too much information for us to absorb. - A visit somewhere where you've never been before or somewhere where you don't feel at ease. A subway station can be a good example of that. - Something dangerous has happened. A fire, an earthquake, a 'terror' attack. Stampedes in stadiums are an unfortunate herd behavior when a crowd of people starts to move in one direction for no clear reason. To be honest it is easier to list the moments in which you feel certain of your decisions than the other way around. b) You have to be in the presence of other people. Quite obvious. Duh. Flocks, Herds and a laughing stock What Joshua Bell experienced was the little brother of Social Proof known as Pluralistic Ignorance. In 1964, Catherine Genovese felt this phenomenon to the bone, when she was stabbed to death over a period of 35 minutes and the murder was witnessed by at least thirty-eight neighbors, none of whom called the police until after the woman was dead and silent. The media thought that they were cold, indifferent people when in fact what happened was another manifestation of Social Proof. People were not sure if they would be in danger by helping her, if someone had already called the police and no one in that group was leader enough to take an initiative. Everyone was doing what everyone else was doing: Nothing at all. This situation was quite similar to the reaction the subway commuters gave to Joshua Bell: Silence and indifference, even if the quality of his concert was the best they had ever experienced. This copy paste phenomenon arises in all animals in nature. This is the reason why birds form flocks, this is why animals move in herds and this is why every four years lemmings (Who by they way are real animals and not only a video game, one of Norway's natural habitants and have one of the the loveliest names on this planet: Lemmus Lemmus) take the decision to jump off cliffs bringing their population to decimation. Dr. Robert Cialdini, one of the leading experts in Influence and Persuasion, argues that canned laughter is another manifestation of Social Proof. We simply are programed to conform to what other people laugh at. One of the most striking examples of Social Proof is the Dutch Tulip Mania. In 1593, a man named Conrad Guestner imported a single tulip bulb into Holland from Constantinople. He started cultivating and selling tulips all around the country. Slowly, slowly tulip bulbs started to be a status symbol: The more status people bought them, the more wanted they were. Informational Social Influence seemed to be the only force in this act, at least until the second force kicked in: Greed. As in any stock market, the more demand goes up, the more prices soar. By 1634, tulip mania had spread like a fever, all over the Dutch middle class and now tulip bulbs were traded on local market exchanges, pushing prices to even higher levels. In less than a month a single tulip bulb would be worthy 20 times its initial price and by 1634 a single tulip bulb would cost an amazing $76,000. Society seemed to be caught up in a mass mania: One drunk man at a bar, he mistook a tulip bulb for an onion, he ate it, and ended up spending 20 years in prison. Then by the end of that year some people, progressively, started thinking that maybe the prices were, well, a bit overvalued and started liquidating their tulips bringing into the game a third force: Fear. In less than a month, prices went crashing down and people, that had sold all their houses and their fortunes to buy tulips, found them selves holding in their hand nothing more than a single, worthless tulip seed. This was one of the first stock market bubbles
and this is why today Holland is known for its tulips: It all started with a Big Bang. Most of the things people do, follow the same, exact trends. Think, for example, of fashion. Most people think that their haircut and clothes are genuinely nice. We tend to forget that what is considered beautiful now, it will be laughed upon in ten years. What actually happens is that most of us choose our style by looking at others and simply by following trends in a good, lemming fashion. We simply want what other people want. Which brings us to the next great title of this lovely article: Why do people respect you more, when you are in the presence of beautiful women and stylish people. Well I think, you know that one all by your self, no? Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin has found out that most females look for Social Proof, when it has to do with choosing a sexual partner. The more wanted a male is by other females, the more wanted HE is. This explains why most people have a lot of success when they go out with female friends. An interesting meaning is that a few, worthy men get all the women and the rest 90% gets almost nothing. You know in which category YOU are in, don't you ? This is why bouncers and bartenders seem 'cool'. Everyone wants something from them, everyone goes 'towards' them and they are in the center of attention. People want what other people want. It is that simple. You don't have to be rich to be my girl, you don't have to be cool to rule my world. Good news is that you can be the center of attention by learning the social dynamics behind that. Applications: So What? I'll tell you what! - Marketing: However good your product may be (and it may as well be YOU) you must know how to sell it. People will want a product if they think that other people want it too. This is why you have titles as: "Number 1 film of the year" etc. Any effort that shows that the specific product has many consumers is enough to make it wanted. And mark my words: ANY effort. Viral marketing and testimonials are a nice application of this rule. - Finding a boyfriend or a girlfriend (or both - you wicked, wicked party animal): When in a bar, always try to take girls with you. If you don't have women friends to join you, then pick up some girls that seem more responsive, bring them next to the one's you REALLY want and then pick up THOSE ONES. Talk to everyone. Be the social butterfly of the night. This is the advantage of hanging out in the same bars. You get to know the staff and you seem 'more' cool than others. From someone that sees you from far away, you seem like the center of world. - Finding Friends: In order for you to be wanted you must look wanted. If you don't have many friends, fake your stories until you get many friends. Fake it 'till you make it. Take it as a granted that if you are fresh in a city, it will not be easy for you to go out every Saturday night. But you can take people out on Friday's pretending you have something better to doon Saturdays. It's called social climbing. - Choosing Friends, choosing what you watch at TV: The Werther effect is the observation that suicides go up when they announce that suicides have gone up. What you are doing, it may be in conflict with what you REALLY want to do. Maybe you want to go out on a Tuesday night but hey, your friends don't find that 'normal'. Well guess what, unless you find friends that are more outgoing, staying in a Tuesday will be the social norm for your life. Choose friends that push you more up than they pull you down. Find people that are positive, that do many activities, that go out Tuesdays, that are FUN and claim your life back. - Job hunting. That is what CV's are made for: To show that you have been wanted by many other people, that you have worked in many other companies, that you are wanted. Get as much experience as you can. Do projects. Do many projects. Oh, did I mention that you should do projects ? Avoid unemployment even if it is well payed - at some European countries it is really well payed but avoid it as it doesn't look nice for your CV. - Everyday influence. Get the other person in a situation of confusion and then do first what you want him to do. He or she will follow you. The more people you use for this trick, the easier it will be for him to follow. The bandwagon effect is the observation that people often do (or believe) things because many other people do (or believe) the same. If on the other hand, you are in confusion or there is a crisis don't follow ANYONE unless he is an expert in that domain - and a white robe is not enough to prove his expertise. Use common sense, you have responsibility for your actions. Do not abandon it. - If you own a nightclub, a restaurant,or a cinema: make sure there is a queue outside it. Watch out: It doesn't look nice for undertakers. - You want bigger muscles ? Start hanging out with people that train and do weights. They will pull you to their reality. - Do you want to look cooler ? Go around with many pretty women or with many friends, take photos of them and put them on your desk. - Stop watching TV all together. It distorts your reality BIG TIME as most shows are based on the above principles. Whatever is on on a big TV channel is considered as the ultimate truth. It also helps governments do propaganda on their own people and make them believe that Beien Laaanden brought the Twin Towers down when in fact... Did I forget something out ? Ah, Yes! A shill or a plant is a person that promotes your jokes (or your acts) to make others think that you are more funny (or more interesting) than you really are. It is the live version of the canned laughter and it works like a charm. If you'll find your self in a stand up comedy show and you find that someone on the back is laughing a bit too often, then he or she is the one we've been searching for. It has been used in theaters from day one e.g. the use of claqueurs in the Paris opera of the early 19th century. Symbol of all the above is our.... Sheep. Yes, our glorious sheep follows his brothers and sisters wherever they may choose to go. You only need to scare one (we use a dog for that) and the others will follow even if they don't see the dog. What a lovely animal.
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