The Issue: Chapter four of Cialdini is about “social proof” and the concept behind people following the behavior patterns of others before them.
Major Strength: As Dr. Gaither mentioned in class, Cialdini’s writing style very much resembles Malcolm Gladwell’s, filled with relevant examples from both the past and the present. This chapter contains references to Jonestown and the stabbing of Kitty Genovese, among other powerful cases that demonstrate how masses of people can fall into the pattern of following the lead of others. Cialdini emphasizes free thinking, and how important it is to hang onto this virtue. His “strength in numbers” argument seems to hold up, and since the theory is difficult to poke holes in, he has a strong argument.
Major Weakness: Cialdini helps the reader understand how publics can slip into patterns of mass ignorance, but not necessarily how to prevent this from happening to you in real life situations. Perhaps Cialdini’s job is just to introduce us to these concepts. And awareness is the only strength we need. I’d like to think if I saw a woman get stabbed even once, I would call the police regardless of how many others were also looking on. I can’t be sure, but I can hope. And I feel this chapter would have been strengthened if there were advice to follow to prevent falling victim to social proof.
Underlying Assumption: There is this general idea that relying on social proof is part of human nature, and while most of us do not experience this phenomenon on a large, traumatic scale like that of Jonestown, we are vulnerable to following the masses, and it isn’t likely that will change.
Provocative Questions: This reminds me of high school health class, when we learned about CPR. We were instructed ask a specific person to call 911 as the first step, rather than hoping someone would do it. We also learned that requesting, “someone call 911!” didn’t help much either, due to this “bystander effect.“ I remember being unsettled by this, but it leads me to ask if it would be safer to have an emergency situation in front of a massive group, or in front of a small one?
Are there ways to train our minds to prevent falling victim to social proof?