Friends ask friends to wear masks.

 

Public shaming is very popular these days.  Here's what my students had to say about it last month...

 

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2020/11/should-we-be-shaming-people-into-doing.html

 

I get it.  It's very tempting to call someone out about their bad behavior.  The problem is - who gets to decide what's bad?

 

President-elect Biden has been shaming Trump publicly over the past few weeks in an effort to get him to do his job.  Trump's reaction?  He's playing golf.

 

We really shouldn't be surprised.  Shaming is not on the list of most effective persuasion techniques.

 

What is on the list is liking.  Research shows that taking a few minutes to establish commonalities - which leads to liking, prior to negotiations, results in successful outcomes 90% of the time versus 55%  if this step is skipped. (Cialdini, 2020)

 

Every time we can get another person to wear a mask we all win. 

 

So focus your efforts on people who like you.  Explain that you wear your mask to protect them.  Ask them to do the same for you. 

 

You never know, it might just work.

 

 

Cialdini, R. (2020) Science of Persuasion.  Influence at Work.  retrieved December 30, 2020, from

https://www.influenceatwork.com/principles-of-persuasion/

Have you thought about insurance?

 

The best piece of advice I have to share is - be well insured.  Once you have dealt with an apartment flood and cancer in the family it's a no brainer. 

 

But, how do you convince someone to think about insurance before these things happen to them?

 

Not surprisingly, younger people tend not to be well insured.  According to Farmer's Insurance Millennials, ages 24-39 have low awareness and familiarity with insurance brands.

 

To appeal to them, Farmer's believes they need to provide relevant and entertaining scenarios.  Their research also shows that "offering a group of perks is especially appealing." (Gazdik, 2020)

 

As a result of this input they developed a new campaign which is running across a variety of media.  Here is one of the videos in the series...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USpO6xaCS8Y

 

So what do you think?  Will this campaign be successful?  Have they achieved their goal of providing a relevant and entertaining scenario?  Would you notice this video if it came up in your feed?  Would you remember who placed it?

 

What do you think of the idea of "a group of perks?"  Does this appeal to you?  Is the video executing it properly?  Does this qualify as a perk?  Or did you have something else in mind?  If so, what?

 

 

Gazdik, T. (2020, September 14)  Farmers Insurance Targets Millennials.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved September 15, 2020, from  https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/355693/farmers-insurance-targets-millennials.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=119784&hashid=ybq2buULrntyGS6NfbELk0afrrI

 

Can people be persuaded to go against the tribe and vote for Biden?

We all belong to a variety of tribes who influence our behavior.  Belonging to a tribe began as an anthropological necessity.  People who belonged to a tribe were more likely to survive.  That hasn't really changed.  People may no longer be worried about being eaten by wild animals, but they still need back-up when things go wrong.

In order to maintain their place in a tribe, people will often agree to do and say things that go against their own beliefs.  In fact, research shows that 2/3 of people will conform in public. (Asch, 1951)

In an experiment from Brain Games, people who deliberately gave an incorrect answer to go along with the tribe indicated that they did so because 1) everyone else did - peer pressure and 2) I didn't want to be the dumb kid - questioning their own ability to judge when others disagreed.

You can check it out here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJCXXTMrv8

So how do you get people to resist the pull of the tribe?  You give them permission to defect.  A group called Republican Voters Against Trump has begun running ads in an attempt to do just that.  The ads feature user testimonials from people who voted for Trump in 2016 and now regret what they have done. 

So they are not really asking people to leave the tribe, but rather they are pointing out that the wisdom the of tribe has actually shifted.  It's an interesting approach. 

Time will tell if it works.

Asch, S. (1951)  Effects of Group Pressure Upon The Modification And Distortion Of Judgments. Social Psychology.  Retrieved March 20, 2020, from https://www.gwern.net/docs/psychology/1952-asch.pdf

If your friends don't wear masks, you won't either.

We all belong to a variety of tribes that influence our behavior. The closer the association we have with the tribe, the more likely we are to follow their cues.  

A study published in The American Journal of Health, found that if your friends are overweight, so are you.  That's because we change our habits to mirror those of our friends, even if we are unaware that we are doing it. (Junge, 2011) 

Remember the last time you went to dinner with friends?  Did someone order a drink?  If they did, did everyone else?  What about dessert?

 

Research also tells us that 60% of us care deeply about belonging to the tribe and that people like others who are similar to themselves.

So not wearing a mask becomes a way to affiliate with the group regardless of potential consequences.

How sad is that?

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Junge, C. (2011, May 24)  How your friends make you fat - the social network of weight.  harvard.edu.  Retrieved March 3, 2020, from  https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-your-friends-make-you-fat%E2%80%94the-social-network-of-weight-201105242666