Why does something your friend just bought suddenly seem like something you need? Why does someone your friend finds attractive also seem attractive to you? Why is social media so addictive? Why do positive online reviews make us want to buy a product?
These questions and many more can be understood when looking at them through the lens of Cialdini’s (intro here) third principle of influence, Social Proof. We are much more likely to do something, buy something, be attracted to something, if people we like and respect do it, buy it or are attracted to it. Think about the things you wear or the phone you own. Before buying did you make a comparison of every available option and only after that decide on the one which would be best for you? Unlikely. What’s more likely is that you saw what people in your peer group bought, saw what a celebrity you admire recommended, saw an attractive person in an advert using the item and felt an urge to purchase it. Why do things become so attractive when they have been vouched for by other people?
Once again, we have to look at our evolutionary past for the answer. If someone in our tribe was healthy and sexually desirable then it made sense to copy what they did as opposed to trying something new. If the strong alpha male of the group ate a certain fruit then it would have been a good idea to also eat that fruit. By copying a strong healthy person you would be more likely to survive and reproduce. This ‘copying’ trait was selected for in our evolution and is now an entrenched part of our brains. These days it is rarely a matter of life and death whether we replicate another person’s behaviour but more a matter of which mobile telephone to buy or what app to download. Marketers know very well this inbuilt desire to imitate high-status individuals and so play on this by displaying strong, attractive people using their product in their adverts.
Watch and learn
Throughout the history of psychology, there has been a consistent thread of thought that says watching a person act in a certain way makes us much more likely to act in that way. In the mid 18th century economist and psychologist Adam Smith formulated the idea of reflexive imitation. This is the idea that you imitate a person’s actions once you take on their perspective, experiencing how they must think or feel. Charles Darwin, a hundred or so years later, described this act as sympathy. He saw the benefit that this innate impulse gave us: “Those communities which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members would flourish best and rear the greatest number of offspring.” Today we use the terms empathy or compassion.
To understand why humans have such a strong pull towards acting in accordance with their peers/other people it is helpful to first understand our sense of empathy. This sense of empathy is so strong we often feel such strong pain and sadness for people in films even when we rationally know they are just actors in an imaginary story. Why is this?
Once again, it is because it helped our ancestors survive long enough to reproduce and therefore continue passing the trait along their gene line. If a mother can feel or sense how their offspring are feeling then they can provide much better care and therefore make it more likely that their child will survive and pass on the empathetic genes. Being able to empathise with people was advantageous for building strong communities and tribes. If you can feel a fellow tribesperson’s pain you can help them out therefore creating a stronger tribe and increasing the likelihood of survival of the offspring of that tribe.
Interestingly, empathy didn’t only arrive on the scene once we evolved into humans, several studies have discovered that it is present in our close ancestors, apes and monkeys. In one study, Rhesus monkeys were put into a cage with a rope which, if pulled, would deliver them food. The catch was that whenever they pulled the rope a fellow monkey was administered a painful shock. Soon enough the monkeys realised that getting food resulted in a friend getting shocked. The monkeys started avoiding pulling the rope and one monkey even went 12 days without eating. The sense of empathy in the monkey was so strong that a monkey would rather starve than hurt one of its peers. This could only be the case if the monkey could put itself in the other monkey’s shoes and understand how much the shock would hurt. This is an advantageous trait as in the wild it is important that a monkey’s tribe is as strong as possible; if they can identify when another monkey is in pain or distress they will be able to help it out and ensure their tribe remains strong. This also enables them to learn vicariously through other monkeys that certain actions are a bad idea and result in pain without them having to actually experience the pain first hand.
Mirror mirror in my brain
One theory explains the origin of such a strong sense of empathy as being down to a specific type of neuron known as mirror neurons. These neurons not only fire when we take an action ourselves but also when we observe another person taking the same action. Mirror neurons were first discovered in macaque monkeys. Researchers observed the brain activity of monkeys watching other monkeys reaching for their food. They found very similar brain activity in the monkey observing as the monkey actually carrying out the action.
Although these neurons haven’t been categorically identified in humans, similar brain activity has been observed. One theory for the cause of autism is that those with the disorder lack mirror neurons and so find it difficult to understand other people’s intentions and emotions. In neurotypical people, observing another person performing an action activates the same pathways as when actually carrying out the action ourselves. This helps us formulate an explanation in our minds as to why the observed person carried out the action.
This ability to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and, to some extent, experience what they are feeling goes a long way in explaining how we are influenced by what other people say and do. If we see a person using and enjoying a product we immediately feel a, usually subconscious, sense of enjoyment and satisfaction from imagining how they are feeling. This gives us positive associations with the product or service and makes it much more likely that we will want to use the product ourselves. This effect is magnified if the person we are observing is one of high status or a close friend.
Influencers
Marketers and advertisers are very aware of this quirk of human behaviour. An obvious example to start with is celebrity endorsements. How many times have you seen a celebrity appear on an advert for something you wouldn’t have thought they have any connection with? For example, why does a singer drinking a soft drink help to sell it? What does a person’s singing ability have to do with their ability to judge the quality of a beverage?
What could be considered irrational behaviour has its origins in a very rational behaviour from our evolutionary past. The alpha male equivalent in modern society is the celebrity endorser. It might not seem rational but if we see an attractive, successful person endorsing a certain product, our subconscious, acting on in-built patterns of thought created several millennia ago, will consider the product more desirable. The creation and popularity of social media influencers is further evidence of the power of social proof. Companies are now spending a huge amount of money on giving their product to social media influencers who will then talk positively about the product on their social media feeds. To their followers, these influencers are the strong, healthy alphas of the tribe and so their inbuilt instinct is to follow these people’s example and purchase the product.
This effect is so strong that it doesn’t even have to be a celebrity or someone a person follows on social media. Many studies have shown that advertisers have a lot of success selling a product just by showing an attractive person using and recommending it. The person being advertised to has absolutely no idea whether this person is trustworthy. They will likely even consciously realise that this person doesn’t even use the product and is just a paid actor. Nevertheless, the subconscious urge to follow what we deem to be a fit, healthy and successful person’s example is so strong that we will rate a product higher when an attractive person is seen to be using it.
The path well-trodden
Another element of social proof is how it allows us to conserve our energy by only trying, buying or using things that other people have, seemingly, tested for us already. One of the most important changes in consumer behaviour in recent decades is the huge increase in the ability to review products and services. Until fairly recently, the only way to get an idea of the quality of a product or service was through word of mouth from your group of friends and family. Nowadays you have access to the opinions of millions of people at the click of a button. Whether you are going to a restaurant, watching a new film or buying a new electrical appliance you have access to the opinions of a huge amount of people who have used the product. Marketers of yesteryear would likely include a testimonial in their advertisements which would have had a similar effect. These would often have been met with skepticism as it was hard to verify if the person was an actual customer. Now you have access to millions of testimonials from real people with no incentive to fabricate their experiences. How much more likely you are to buy something if 3000 people have rated it as five stars. This, of course, also works in reverse: if an item or restaurant has even one 1 star review you are much less likely to buy or use it.
The recommendation of a close friend or family member is much more relevant to us as they have shared experiences with us and know our tastes. If a friend liked a restaurant and suggested we visit there would be a high chance we would like it too. It makes a lot of sense to listen to a recommendation from a friend. For the majority of human existence, we have only been able to hear the opinions of people physically and emotionally close to us. Our brains haven’t adapted to the relatively new phenomena of having access to the recommendations and opinions of the whole of humanity and so the effect of social proof is very strong even when we have no relationship with the person sharing their opinion.
Gone viral
This same idea of being able to view how other people rate something is behind the huge success of social media and the phenomena of something going viral. On all social media platforms, you see not just content but how other people have perceived and rated that content. Imagine how different the experience would be if all the likes and comments disappeared. Would that video you watched this morning be as appealing to you if it didn’t have 30,000 likes? Would you have even clicked on it?
This is how things go viral: a piece of content starts getting some attention, the app shows you that other people have liked it, social proof kicks in and makes you want to check it out as it must be valuable. You then watch it, will have an urge to also like it and then your like gets shown to the next person. The more engagement a post has the stronger the effect of social proof and so this effect grows stronger each time a person interacts with it in a self-fulfilling loop.
Share the love
A similar loop is created when using referral bonuses. Most companies these days incentivise the sharing of their product with your friends and family, your tribe. It could be a food discount app offering a free meal or a savings account app that offers you an increased interest rate. These referral bonuses mean the company doesn’t need to spend as much time and effort marketing their product in the traditional manner as their users will do a lot of the work for them.
Referral bonuses work for two reasons. The obvious one is that both the existing user and the potential new user are getting something for free, so why not sign up to that app my friend is sharing if we both get a free meal out of it? The other, less obvious reason, is because of social proof. If someone whose opinion you trust tells you that they are enjoying a product or service you will want to try out that product or service too. It saves you having to go through the thought process of evaluating the product for what it is and can use the heuristic that if a friend likes the product then chances are you will too.
Companies have to be careful not to make the referral bonus too attractive as then the effect won’t be as strong. Both the referrer and referee will be conscious that the main reason they are sharing the product is to get the bonus and not because they genuinely recommend the app or product. There is a fine balance between the bonus being attractive enough to influence the genuine recommendation of the app and being too attractive that people ‘game’ the system and share the app solely for the bonus. The attention will then be on the bonus itself and not the app.
Let’s play a game
Other than an outright referral and sales pitch from a friend, how else can companies highlight to users how popular their products are whilst taking advantage of social proof? One important way is by introducing gamification into their product.
Gamification is the act of introducing a “game-like” element to an app. It usually involves rewarding a user with points for completing certain actions. These points could be used to unlock new features or, in the case we are interested in, used to rank users in a leaderboard of some sort. Imagine a language learning application where you are rewarded with points every time you complete a section or finish learning a topic, or if you build up a daily streak of visits to the app. Or even where almost everything you do is rewarded with points. You are then constantly shown a leaderboard of where you rank among your peers. This method is effective for several reasons. One is the inbuilt competitive aspect of human nature, another the commitment and consistency principle. However, what we are interested in here is the fact that you are constantly being shown and reminded of how often people, whose opinions are important to you, are using the app.
This uses the social proof heuristic to elevate the status of the app in your mind. It works on the subconscious processes we explored earlier and will further reinforce the idea that the app is worth using.
Conclusion
Hopefully, the answers to the questions posed at the beginning of this article are now a bit clearer. You find the things your friends and family buy and enjoy attractive because it plays on a heuristic that was evolutionarily advantageous to us. If we use the examples and experiences of people we hold in high esteem to guide our decisions it is a lot easier for us than assessing every aspect of every option available to us. In the same vein, you are more likely to be attracted to a person your friends find attractive because it means you can skip having to think too deeply and rely on your peer group’s judgment.
Social media is so addictive because it plays on our inbuilt mechanisms of social proof. You are shown content which thousands of other people have liked and interacted with. Your unconscious mind sees a post that your peers and celebrities you follow have liked and automatically sees that post in a positive light. Moreover, by seeing these posts you are reminded by how much your friends are using the app and therefore you are comforted and encouraged in your use of the app.
You often want to buy what celebrities and influencers advertise as they have taken on the position of the alpha of the tribe. Throughout history, there would have been a strong person at the head of the tribe. In order to survive, gain food and a mate it would have made sense to follow what this person did and how they behaved. Our brains haven’t adapted out of this method of following the alpha. Now, instead of the alpha being a member of our tribe they are celebrities, influencers or other people we deem to be high status.
Social proof is one of the most powerful principles of influence. Humans are social creatures and have become the dominant species on earth mainly because of our ability to work together. These social ties don’t come without downsides. As we have seen, the pull to act as our peers do is incredibly strong.
As with all principles of influence, it is important to understand when you are making a decision based on what you actually want to do versus when you are being led by one of the principles. I hope you now not only have a newfound interest in the principle of social proof but are also better armed to notice when you are making decisions based on the pull to act in the same way as other people. If you feel a strong urge to follow the crowd you will be able to detach slightly and ask yourself if it is something you really want to do. You should also be able to see how this principle could be used in your life and work to help get your point across. If you can show people that they won’t be alone in making a decision they will be much more likely to make that decision.
