1. examples
1.1. it communicated that few people steal from the park by depicting a lone thief. This sign, which marginalized thievery (rather than normalizing it), reduced larceny to 1.67 percent.
1.2. “Most of your fellow community residents do try to conserve energy at home.”
2. Usage
2.1. emergin or trending concepts
2.1.1. example
2.1.1.1. more and more people announce that they are gays
2.1.1.2. example, more and more people are buying this item
2.1.1.2.1. As a result, advertisers love to inform us when a product is the “fastest growing” or “largest selling”
2.1.2. Rather than relying only on evidence of existing social proof, a communicator can do at least as well by relying on evidence of future social proof.
2.1.2.1. Observers of a succession of increasing valuations project them into the future in the form of further escalations.
2.1.2.2. When we notice a change, we expect the change will likely continue in the same direction when it appears as a trend.
2.1.3. In keeping with the Big Mistake, when informed that only a minority performs one of these desired actions, people are reluctant to perform it themselves.
2.1.3.1. However, if they learn that within the minority, more and more others are engaging in it, they jump on the bandwagon and begin enacting the behavior too.
2.2. the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group conditions to allow the principle of social proof to work in their favor.
2.3. Testimonial contests
2.3.1. The purpose behind testimonial contests—to get as many people as possible to endorse a product
2.3.2. commitment and consistency technique as well
3. techinque
3.1. people are more likely to be persuaded by information, including social-proof information, when they think it is not intended to persuade them
3.1.1. whenever we run recruitment ads saying we need help to keep up with the demand for our vehicles, we see a significant increase in vehicle sales in those months.
4. peer-suasion
4.1. An action coming from similar others increases our confidence that it will prove valid, feasible, and socially acceptable should we perform it.
4.1.1. peer-suasion
4.1.1.1. we are more inclined to follow the lead of our peers
4.1.2. Such action is
4.1.2.1. valid
4.1.2.2. feasible
4.1.2.3. socially acceptabally
4.1.3. this is even more powerful if
4.1.3.1. the behavior come from people just like us.
4.1.3.1.1. It is the conduct of such people that gives us the greatest insight into what constitutes correct behavior for ourselves.
4.2. The strongest influence on market share, 80 percent, was due to geographical region.
4.2.1. as research indicates people are regionally similar on attitudes, values, and personality traits—probably due to contagion effects.
4.3. The sucide rate increased after 13 reasons why
4.3.1. findings illustrate a distressing tendency for suicide publicity to motivate certain people who are similar to the victim to kill themselves—
4.3.1.1. because they now find the idea of suicide more legitimate.
4.4. The greater the number of people who find any idea correct, the more a given individual will perceive the idea to be correct.
4.4.1. Sometimes one person isn’t enough • Catalysts find reinforcement
4.5. “If one person says you have a tail, you laugh it off as stupid;
4.5.1. but, if three people say it, you turn around.”
5. Uncertainty—
5.1. the right-hand man of the principle of social proof.
5.1.1. “Since 95 percent of the people are imitators and only 5 percent initiators, people are persuaded more by the actions of others than by any proof we can offer.”
5.1.1.1. “the many” is effective is that it communicates feasibility: if lots can do it, it must not be difficult to pull off.
5.1.1.2. there was one kind of customer that was most likely to choose based on popularity—those who were infrequent and, therefore, unfamiliar visitors.
5.1.2. We have already seen that when people are uncertain, they look to the actions of others to guide their own.
5.1.2.1. The tendency to see an action as appropriate when others are doing it works quite well normally.
5.1.2.2. As a rule, we make fewer mistakes by acting in accord with social evidence than by acting contrary to it.
5.1.2.3. We use the actions of others as a way to locate and validate a correct choice.
6. Society
6.1. SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE
6.1.1. We feel more socially accepted being one of the many.
6.2. “the pain of independence.”
6.2.1. Compared to holding an opinion that fits with the group’s, holding an opinion that is out of line creates psychological distress.
6.2.2. The sector of their brains associated with negative emotion (the amygdala) became activated
6.3. When it comes to group dynamics, there’s an old saying that gets it right:
6.3.1. “To get along, you have to go along.”