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Social Proof is one of the most important automatisms we use everyday. Yet I don't agree that it makes sense to use it to avoid making worst decisions. Last we
by JarekS 17y ago
Social Proof is one of the most important automatisms we use everyday. Yet I don't agree that it makes sense to use it to avoid making worst decisions.
Last weeks of Bull market on stock exchange is the best example of the situation where people follow Social Proof and at the same time they are making worst possible thing (buying overpriced stock).
- pawartur 17y agoI agree that it's a very good example that following Social Proof can be misleading, but I still think it makes sense as a strategy to minimalize the risk of making a very bad decision. I realize that it's preety vague ant thus not exceptionally interesting point though :). Actually, you can even point out that a decision made by the majority can't be the worst one in a social sense and I don't think it's completely stupid - after all, if you're in a social group and don't know what to do, it's always good to make sure that you won't end up worse that the majority since it happens quite seldom that the majority ends up very bad.