SOCIAL INFLUENCE-4

Rule number three - Social Proof

Monkey see, monkey do.

The vacuum cleaner salesman from the other day used this in his first sentence. "Many of your neighbors have taken advantage of this offer". You automatically think... "Well, if they think it's good it must be good." Strike one.

This is another one of the deep-rooted mental short cut to compliance.

Years ago I worked as a piano player in restaurants and pubs. I soon learned that by putting a couple of dollars in the old tip jar at the beginning of my set produced more tips. it's just one of those things we all know happens. Yes, they do! Some of them you are aware of, like the tip jar. How come the collection plate already has a few bills in it when you are the first one to receive it?

Laugh tracks, salted plates and tip jars constitutes FAKE EVIDENCE! Planted by people wanting you to comply. How can we in our right minds be defrauded like that? You tell me. It works.

There are a number of well-know ad-lines we all know about. They all induce this principle but we are so used to seeing them that we allow them to work over and over again in spite of their obvious intention. Once an author has sold a few books, he's a "best selling author". Heck, if other people like his book I have to buy it too!

Products are often "fastest growing", "fastest selling". The fear of buying this is gone.

This principle is so obvious and overused I'm amazed that people fall for it over and over. But, the fact is that as part of the social influence group of rules  it's so deeply rooted that no one even thinks twice about using it as justification to comply. It's automatic.

It is very hard to resist this principle. We want to fit in, not be different. We have been brought up to be like our peers, neighbors and upstanding people in society in general.

This works even better if the references are PEOPLE LIKE US! Our peers, people we work with or play with. People living in the same community, on the same street. People we know and respect. It's automatic. No thinking required.

This is used often in advertising. Interviews with "person on the street" liking the product so much. Our insides goes: 'This person is just like me, so it must be good'

If there is uncertainty involved - social proof makes it go away.

Many investors are victims of this principle. It may explain why thousands of Bre-X investors kept buying shares in spite of warnings. They looked at everyone else! Canadian Government pension funds bought in to the tune of millions of dollars, major Wall Street mutual funds and other highly respected financial institutions also made it clear that this was a good buy. We believed them. When E.F Hutton talks-everyone listens.

To prevent the effect of social proof, examine the validity of the proof. Is it real? If not, ignore it. Now you KNOW what it is and you can ignore the automatic reaction.

On the other hand, if you need compliance in an un-certain situation - use it.

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