Proof It

One day in my business class, the following joke was told. Once there were three penguins. The first penguin jumped into the water and yelled, “here goes nothing!”. The next penguin followed suit by jumping off the cliff yelling, “here goes nothing!”. Finally, the third penguin looked over the edge, and after much anticipation, yelled, “Seven!” and jumped off the cliff. Immediately, nearly my whole class erupted with laughter. I had no idea what was funny about that joke….so I did not laugh.

Turns out that the teacher was conducting an experiment. Before the class began he had told a few of the students that when he said the punchline, that they were to begin laughing regardless of if the joke was funny. So they did. The other students in the class, finding themselves in a situation where they didn’t know what to do (because the joke wasn’t really funny and they didn’t know if they should laugh or not), laughed anyways because that’s what everyone else was doing.

This little phenomenon is called “Social Proof”. Basically, when people find themselves in a situation in which they know nothing about it, they will automatically look to see what those around them are doing and then they will do it themselves. Kind of ridiculous in theory and kind of sad, really, but it’s the truth.

That’s why in the comedy shows they put on “laugh tracks” of huge crowds laughing after jokes. Because then we can laugh at the joke even when it’s not funny. Has anyone ever noticed how ridiculous it is that we are watching a TV show and there is audience laughter the whole time? It’s why sometimes people will form lines, even though they have no idea where the line is leading. Because if other people are forming a line, it must be the correct thing to do. It’s why at a basketball game if you didn’t actually see the shot go in or hear the bad call or even know what happened, you will clap or boo right along with the crowd, because you don’t know what’s going on, but you will follow the crowd because of social proof. It's used in doing class assignments, in driving, in friend interactions, in weekend plans, in most everything.

So before you do anything this week, I’d challenge you to ask yourself why you are doing it. Is it because you find yourself in an uncertain situation and are choosing to follow the social proof the crowd provides, or is it because you are deciding for yourself. It’s so refreshing to weigh the alternatives, make a decision based on your own standards and criteria, and then go for it.

And seriously, next time you watch TV, notice the audience randomly laughing in the background. It’s weird. Think about it.