From Our Brains to Yours
Just like everyone else (or maybe a tad better…)
I haven’t seen any hard numbers on it, but I’d guess that not very many people articulate an impulse to be just like everyone else. We’re a world of individualists, independents. We make our own decisions, forge our own way, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and stay out of each others’ business.
Which is why the data indicating that just knowing what other people around us are doing has a significant impact on our behavior is so mind-blowing. The evidence is strong that we’re incredibly sensitive to information about what our neighbors, peers, and even just random people who happened to occupy the same space recently are up to, and that we’ll change our behavior accordingly.
While the data points to the persuasive power of this odd form form of peer pressure on our energy consumption habits (the New York Times recently published an interesting article on the phenomenon), there are interesting implications for non-profit and cause communications. Ideas I’ve been pondering:
- For fundraising: can we make appeals more effective by revealing the number of gifts from a donor prospect’s geographic area or other identifying demographic? Can we increase the average gift by revealing the recent higher dollar gifts we’ve received?
- For advocacy: can we use the power of story to describe the people making the choice to get involved, rather than just the action they took, to inspire competition, a la the energy consumption effects?
What else? What can we use this instinct for sameness – or perhaps it’s competitiveness? – to do better?
-Shayna
(hat tip to Neuromarketing)