Spot it
Social proof
Also called everyone's doing it, bandwagon
When you're unsure, what other people seem to be doing feels like the right answer.
Copying others is often a sensible shortcut: a busy restaurant is usually decent. But the shortcut can be gamed. Visible numbers (reviews, likes, 'bestseller', crowds) change what people choose. In one large online experiment, showing download counts made popular songs more popular and outcomes harder to predict, so early luck snowballed. Marketers, campaigners and fake accounts all know this.
What the research says
Well supported
- Cialdini, Reno & Kallgren (1990). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58(6), 1015–1026Well supported
Well supported
- Salganik, Dodds & Watts (2006). Science 311(5762), 854–856Well supported
Mixed evidence
- Goldstein, Cialdini & Griskevicius (2008). Journal of Consumer Research 35(3), 472–482Mixed evidence. A German replication found no towel-reuse effect from the 'most guests reuse' message (Bohner & Schlüter, 2014, PLoS ONE 9(8), e104086).
Well supported
- Milgram, Bickman & Berkowitz (1969). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 13(2), 79–82Small classic street study: bigger crowds looking up drew more passers-by to look up.
Where you'll see it
- Star ratings and review counts
- 'Bestseller' and 'trending' badges
- Like and share counts
- Queues and crowds
- 'Millions already switched' claims from rival brands
Your defence
Ask: who are these people, are they like me, and could the numbers be bought?