Principle 12: Use Social Evidence

The Concept

An Excerpt from Influencing Like Jesus

Digging Deeper: Examples of Social Evidence 

The Concept

“Social evidence”—the behaviors of others—is a shortcut that we use in decision-making to help us sift through a world of choices. And it's particularly powerful when those "others" are similar to us.

An Excerpt from Influencing Like Jesus

See if this doesn’t sound familiar. You’re in a department store trying to choose between two competing items. Sensing your dilemma, a smiling salesperson offers some help by indicating what the “most popular” item is. Curiously, that information pushes you off the fence; you buy what most other people have bought. 

It happens in restaurants too, right? How many times have you heard a waiter or waitress tell you that some item is the “most popular” or “best selling” item on the menu, or say something like “most people order the rice with that”?

Another example: You may do the same thing I do when buying books from an online bookseller. Did you ever look at the “sales ranking” for a book to get a clue about whether it’s worthwhile? Ever read the comments by the amateur reviewers to help you make a decision? Rightly or wrongly, that seems to be my standard approach.

In each of these cases, “social evidence”—the behaviors of others—is influencing our decision. It’s not automatically a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just a shortcut that we take in decision-making to help us sift through a world of choices. And as we’ll see in a minute, we can learn a few things from the ministry of Jesus about its appropriate use.

First, though, let’s get a more concrete grasp of the social evidence principle. We see in operation all around us everyday. A fast-food restaurant tells us on its sign how many billions they’ve served. A special interest group reports their latest poll numbers that support their cause, in the hopes of shaping our opinion. A company boasts that it’s the “fastest growing” firm in their industry to attract investors and customers alike. A Christian school displays a large placard of a thermometer, indicating how much money has been raised toward their fund-raising goal, and encouraging you to give today.

The common thread among all these influence attempts? Each one seeks to affect our thinking and behavior by showing us that a lot of people are doing something.

To read more, purchase Influencing Like Jesus

Digging Deeper: Examples of Social Evidence

Please note: This section does not necessarily constitute an endorsement

of these groups, their messages, or their methods.

Thermometer goal posters: "Look! Everybody's giving!" (maybe I should give at least something)   Polls: A recent NBC News poll indicates that most Americans... (perhaps I should think that, too)   Promotional terms: “fastest-growing,” “best selling,” “most popular” (I guess it must be good)   Evangelism: 70,000 people a day accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior (maybe I should rethink my doubt)   Anti-Evangelism: Militant atheists are using the power of social evidence to pull people--especially teenagers--away from God. "The Blasphemy Challenge" encourages people to create a video of themselves denying the existence of God and then upload that video to YouTube. The collective response of blasphemers (i.e., the social evidence) is mounting: see it here. But thankfully, so is the counter-movement among Christians: see it here.

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