Influence

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interacting with their dogs; apparently the principle of social proof
works best when the proof is provided by the actions of a lot of other
people.^3
The powerful influence of filmed examples in changing the behavior
of children can be used as therapy for various problems. Some striking
evidence is available in the research of psychologist Robert O’Connor
on socially withdrawn preschool children. We have all seen children
of this sort, terribly shy, standing alone at the fringes of the games and
groupings of their peers. O’Connor worried that a long-term pattern
of isolation was forming, even at an early age, that would create persist-
ent difficulties in social comfort and adjustment through adulthood. In
an attempt to reverse the pattern, O’Connor made a film containing
eleven different scenes in a nursery-school setting. Each scene began
by showing a different solitary child watching some ongoing social
activity and then actively joining the activity, to everyone’s enjoyment.
O’Connor selected a group of the most severely withdrawn children
from four preschools and showed them his film. The impact was im-
pressive. The isolates immediately began to interact with their peers at
a level equal to that of the normal children in the schools. Even more
astonishing was what O’Connor found when he returned to observe
six weeks later. While the withdrawn children who had not seen
O’Connor’s film remained as isolated as ever, those who had viewed it
were now leading their schools in amount of social activity. It seems
that this twenty-three-minute movie, viewed just once, was enough to
reverse a potential pattern of lifelong maladaptive behavior. Such is
the potency of the principle of social proof.^4


When it comes to illustrations of the strength of social proof, there is
one that is far and away my favorite. Several features account for its
appeal: It offers a superb example of the much underused method of
participant observation, in which a scientist studies a process by becom-
ing immersed in its natural occurrence; it provides information of in-
terest to such diverse groups as historians, psychologists, and theolo-
gians; and, most important, it shows how social evidence can be used
on us—not by others, but by ourselves—to assure us that what we
prefer to be true will seem to be true.
The story is an old one, requiring an examination of ancient data, for
the past is dotted with millennial religious movements. Various sects
and cults have prophesied that on one or another particular date there
would arrive a period of redemption and great happiness for those who
believed in the group’s teachings. In each instance it has been predicted
that the beginning of the time of salvation would be marked by an im-
portant and undeniable event, usually the cataclysmic end of the world.


Robert B. Cialdini Ph.D / 91
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