Chapter 4 – Social Proof: Truths Are Us
Cialdini begins the chapter talking about “canned laughter” that show business uses in its productions. He shares that even though the audience knows the laughter is not genuine, it makes the audience laugh more and find the material funnier. He attributes this to the “social proof” principle of influence which “states that one means we use to determine what is correct is to find out what other people think is correct.” Cialdini explains that in most cases, “when a lot of people are doing something, it is the right thing to do.”
However, in other cases it can be detrimental. Cialdini gives the example of a cult following that believed extraterrestrial beings were going to come to earth and save them from a worldwide flood. Prior to the date and time of the alleged “rescue,” the cult was very secretive and dismissive to news outlets. However, after the extraterrestrial beings did not come to save them, the leader told her followers that the group’s devotion had saved the world and that they needed to convert people. The followers began reaching out to potential converts and cooperated with the media to spread the word. Cialdini says they did this because it was the only way to keep their beliefs, for which they had made extreme sacrifices, alive. By getting others to believe, they had more social proof that their beliefs were still true.
The chapter continues by introducing “pluralistic ignorance.” This was the factor in a New York woman’s murder in which thirty-eight neighbors witnessed the events leading up to her death but did nothing to help. Cialdini reports that the neighbors were all unsure of whether action needed to be taken. Unfortunately, the neighbors looked for social proof from each other and since no one was acting, they decided that no action was needed.
Next, Cialdini reveals that the more similar people are, the more likely they will behave similarly. It is thought that when high profile individuals who previously were not known to be struggling commit suicide, suicides increase because people who are already struggling can relate. In 1978, nine-hundred and ten people died after drinking strawberry-flavored poison under the cult-like leadership of Jim Jones. Cialdini asserts that once Jones relocated his following from San Francisco to Jonestown, Guyana and told them to kill themselves, all the suicides occurred because there was no one around who was not committing suicide.
Lastly, the chapter reiterates that social proof is a principle of influence that can be utilized for good or evil. He says that we must be aware of the principle because we can be affected by it when it is used intentionally (the canned laughter) or unintentionally (the New York woman being attacked). Cialdini recommends to always be on guard for false evidence.
Related quotes:
- In general, when we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear or ambiguous, when uncertainty reigns, we are most likely to look to and accept the actions of others as correct.
- We will use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves.
- There is a lesson here: An automatic-pilot device, like social proof, should never be trusted fully; even when no saboteur has fed bad information into the mechanism, it can sometimes go haywire by itself.
- In the same way, we need to look up and around periodically whenever we are locked onto the evidence of the crowd.
Andrew T. Daniel 