Is Social Proof a Good Argument?

In part three of our series on Robert Cialdini's "Influence," we talk about why you shouldn't always follow the wisdom of the crowd. Full show notes Things mentioned in this episode: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini Robert Cialdini Weapons of Influence #1: Reciprocation (Ep. 186) Weapons of Influence #2: Commitment and Consistency (Ep. 189) HuffPost - The Jonestown Massacre Binging with Babish YouTube channel Do You Even Meditate? (Ep. 188) Bystander effect Pluralistic ignorance Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, by Eliezer Yudkowsky Listen Money Matters The Telegraph - Rapper 50 Cent makes $10m after plugging stock on Twitter The Bad Crypto Podcast Brilliant Want more cool stuff? You can find all sorts of great tools at my Resources page. You can also get a free copy of my book, 10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades (While Studying Less), by staying up to date with the College Info Geek newsletter. Timestamps: 0:01:12 - What is social proof and how does it affect us? 0:08:26 - The two factors that make social proof powerful 0:19:35 - Some practical examples of social proof 0:26:13 - Sponsor: Brilliant (Learning problem-solving skills) 0:28:40 - The story of a flying saucer cult 0:36:11 - Pluralistic ignorance and the bystander effect 0:46:28 - Exploiting people's perspectives through social proof 1:03:36 - Recap and conclusion If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! It's easy, you'll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure :) You can also leave a review! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.