The Social Proof Theory - Essay Example

Social Proof Principle of Persuasion Social Proof Principle of Persuasion Persuasion is the process of changing one’s thinking towards something. According to Cialdini (2006), there are six principles used to explain persuasion. They include: reciprocation, social proof, commitment and consistency, authority, liking and scarcity. These theories have been used to explain what persuades people to do various things (Davidson, 2008). Social proof is a principle of persuasion that states that people’s actions and decisions are influenced by the people surrounding them. It is also referred to as informational social influence. This is where people assume that in different situations, the people surrounding them posses more knowledge than them hence they tend to behave in a manner which they think will be approved by the other people. This makes people do actions which might be wrong since the fact that the behavior is right or wrong largely depends on the surrounding people in question. For example, the way someone behaves in a party greatly depends on the type of people in the party. If the function is a formal party attended mainly by upper class citizens, one will behave in a calm and composed manner. If the party is an informal party like a collage party one will behave wildly with a lot of rowdiness. There are various mechanisms that drive the social proof principle of persuasion. They are; uncertainty of the right conclusion, relationship with the surrounding crowd, and the effect of multiple sources. In the uncertainty of the right conclusion mechanism, people tend to consider other people’s opinions more if there was ambiguity in the topic in question. For example, according to Wilson (2008), it was noted that many consumers are persuaded by their peers about a product especially if they were unable to come to a conclusion on the product by themselves. The relationship with the surrounding crowd mechanism of the social proof principle stipulates that, when people think that they are of a similar classification like social class with the people who surround them, they tend to make decisions and behave in a manner which is viewed as correct by the group of people (Kachelski, 2011). The effect of multiple sources mechanism of the social proof of persuasion explains that, people are more influenced if they get information from multiple sources than when they receive information from a single source (Armstrong, 2011). For instance, if someone is told that a certain movie is good from ten different people, the probability of them watching the movie is much higher than when they are told by one person many times that the same movie is good (Armstrong, 2011). In order to proof that the social proof principle of persuasion worked, I carried out a simple research experiment. I decided to hold a formal function at our schools football field and named it “Blankets and Wine”. I started by asking permission from the school through the dean which I was happily granted. I then went to the school’s music club where they agreed to perform at the function for free, since the proceeds of the function would go to the schools Charity to the homeless. I charged two hundred dollars per couple where one couple would stand a chance to win a thousand dollars. The event was to be attended by 200 invites, so I sent out invites to the following group of people: 60 (30%) students were to come from middle class families; 100 (50%n) invites were sent to students from up class families and finally 40 (20%) would come from outstanding and successful entrepreneurs from the surrounding community, where n is the total number of attendants. At least 100 (50%) students who were sent invites were students who were known of their archaic behavior. This aim of the research was to experiment how the students who were known to be rowdy in most campus parties would behave when they were surrounded by people of notable character and behaved themselves with a lot of composure. The experiment was also used to determine if people were persuaded more if many people surrounded them or when few people surrounded them. To my surprise the social proof principle of persuasion actually worked. Students whom I thought would never behave in an acceptable manner behaved very formally, and the event did not have any incident of rowdiness or hooliganism. Students who were well known pranksters behaved very well during the event. Out of the 100 students known to lack good character none of them misbehaved. Those who found the event boring simply walked out instead of booing and throwing objects at the stage which was common with “boring events’ as they referred to them. This sudden change in character can be attributed to the social proof principle of persuasion in the following way. As students from lower social class families interacted with students from high social class societies and the renowned entrepreneurs from the community, they noticed that they were surrounded by respectable people who behaved in a certain way. For example, none of the students took their wine straight from the bottle as done in most parties. They used the wine glasses despite the fact that some were not used to that. They viewed using wine glasses as one of the acceptable kind of behavior by the upper class citizens. Another instance where the social proof principle of persuasion took effect was after the band finished one song. Each student clapped calmly with no shouting or booing. If this was another kind of event, we would have seen students shouting either in praise or disgust with the band. They did this calmly, since they thought it was the only allowed form of applause among such kind of people. The social proof theory principle of persuasion has been used in many areas of life. A simple example is in the advertisement industry. When one calls customer support they initially get a response that states that t he operator is currently busy with other customers instead of saying that the operator is “on standby “. This is to drive the idea that the product has a lot of customers hence the operator being occupied thus re assuring the effectiveness of the product to the customer since its being used by a lot of people. References Armstrong, J. (2011). Evidence-based advertising. International Journal of Advertising, 30(5), 743-767. Cialdini, .R. B. (2006). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. Harper Collins, New York. Davidson, T. W. (2008). Six principles of persuasion you can use to influence others. Physician Executive, 34(5), 20-23. Kachelski, B. (2011). Principles of persuasion. Credit Union Management, 34(10), 34-35. Wilson, C. (2008). Principles of Persuasion and Research. Algonquin College, Ottawa. . Read More