Strength in Numbers: From FOMO to Facebook, Conveying Consensus can be key to Promoting Behaviour Change
The Power of Social Norms
Some of the most striking studies in social psychology have shown the, quite literal, visceral influence that inclusion or exclusion from groups can have on us. One of my favourite studies of all time involved people taking part in an on-line game while lying in an fMRI brain scanner. It revealed that exclusion from a group can activate precisely the same brain region as associated with the experience of physical pain … in other words, we experience exclusion from groups like we experience the pain of hitting our thumb with a hammer - it literally hurts!
This shows just how much our evolution as a species has gone hand in hand with our ability to work together in groups. Just as dental pain is an evolved mechanism to make us look after our teeth no matter what (our ancestors needed them to survive!), just so is being part of social groups. They have always conferred a survival advantage for us, and recent studies have even shown how they benefit our physical health (and conversely, the damaging effect of isolation and loneliness).
It should therefore come as no surprise that when it comes to messaging and communications, highlighting social connections, consensus and community are critically important for inspiring behaviour change. Conveying the sense of a ‘social norm’ taps in to our in-built desire to be included. This can mean providing numerical information about the (high) number of other people carrying out the behaviour you’re trying to promote (whether it be energy conservation, retirement saving or voting). Highlighting dynamic trends can also work (e.g., “A growing number of people …”) and even if the overall consensus is uninspiring, you can positively frame the contextually high consensus (e.g., “500 new sign ups to our newsletter this week”). This can be even more powerful when then reference group are more relevant/meaningful (e.g., family and friends) and proximally closer (e.g., people in your street).
When you start to look around you can see social norm information being used everywhere. Just think about how Trip Advisor works – it’s not just the rating of the hotel that's important, it’s the number of people who have given that rating. Central to Facebook is the number of ‘likes’ a post gets - that’s pure consensus information. “The No. 1 bestseller”, “1 million copies sold”, “10,000" subscribers”, “"Eight out of ten cats prefer Whiskers”) we use consensus to persuade all the time, instinctively and automatically, it’s just so powerful.
So, when it comes to writing your next appeal or designing your next campaign take a moment to include something on how other people are responding to the message - for the recipient, it’s one of the most powerful and compelling reasons to take action.