Social Proof Principle of Persuasion

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%)