According to Kurt W. Mortensen, author of Maximum Influence, “The Law of Social
Validation recognizes and builds on our innate desire to be part of the group
or part of the majority and that we tend to change our perceptions, opinions,
and behaviors in ways that are consistent with group norms” (Mortensen 178).
That is, we will shape our actions and beliefs so they correspond with group
norms in order to gain a sense of belonging and acceptance. I don’t use the Law
of Social Validation when persuading other people because I never try to get
someone to go along with a group just to be accepted. In fact, I highly
encourage people to be themselves and disregard what the majority is doing or
believes. My parents always tell me that it is important to be myself and not a
follower; I should be proud of who I am. With that, I would be extremely
unsuccessful in using this law because my message wouldn’t be genuine. Of all
the persuasive principles, I should learn how to use the Law of Social
Validation properly. People often give in to the pressure of group norms to
fulfill their desire to be accepted. It is a very powerful tool if you know how
to use it correctly, so I hope that I can understand what it takes to apply it
effectively.
Although I don’t use the Law of Social Validation on
other people I can recall the many times it was used on me as a child. When I
was in the fourth grade my friends and I were into trading card games. The only
difference between us was that they brought their cards to school. I was
against bringing my trading cards to school because I didn’t want to lose or
damage them. Overtime I began to feel left out because whenever we had free
time all of my friends would play with their trading cards. In order to feel
accepted in my group of friends I conformed to the norm of bringing my cards to
school. Without saying a word they persuaded me to bring my cards to school and
change my actions in way that didn’t match my beliefs or desires. The feeling
of being outside of the group persuaded me to change my behavior to obtain
social validation (Mortensen 178-179).
Another example of the Law of Social Validation in action
took place during my time on the school bus as a child. I always sat in the
front of the bus because it had a lot of windows, you didn’t have to walk far,
and it was clean. Until middle school my friends and I enjoyed our time in the
front of the bus. In middle school the older kids were deemed as “cool” and
they sat at the back of the bus. So my friends thought they should sit in the
back of the bus because they would be deemed cool. One day, as we were making
our way to the bus, my friends told me that they were going to sit at the back
of the bus. I was confused why they wanted to do such a thing and when they
explained their reasoning I remained befuddled. I told them that they could do
what they wanted but I was staying in the front; that was cool to me. This
shows how my friends changed their behaviors into something they didn’t truly
believe in to gain social validation. They wanted to be a part of the majority,
who sat at the back of the bus, so they were persuaded to conform to the group
norms in hopes of becoming cool. I was not persuaded because I didn’t care if I
was thought of as cool, not to mention that I couldn’t comprehend how a bus
seat determined your social status. I praise the day I passed my driver’s test
and said adios to the big yellow school bus (Mortensen 178-179).
Just a couple of summers ago my dad and I went to a
Milwaukee Brewers’ game. As you may know baseball games have their fair share
of characters, to put it nicely. During the sixth inning some gentleman ran up
to our section and yelled at us to get our attention. The man claimed that him
and his buddies had run around all of Miller Park and convinced every fan to do
the wave. At the time I didn’t know if he was drunk or just an ambitious man
with a dream, but he had no credibility because no one knew who he was. It wasn’t
very likely that a large group of people were going to listen to a random wild
and crazy guy at a baseball game. His attempt to persuade us to do the wave
failed miserably because it was hard to believe that he convinced the entire
stadium to do the wave. Without credibility or believability we weren’t
persuaded to go along with the supposed majority. As he was yelling at us I
noticed a few people in other sections standing up in what appeared to be the
worst attempt at doing the wave I’d ever seen. After about ten minutes the man
stormed off upset and let down, which allowed me to return my attention to the
baseball game. He would have been far more persuasive if the man came to us
with the Brewers’ mascot because everyone knew who the mascot was. Everyone
would’ve known that his request for us to do the wave was genuine and for the sake
of creating unity among us (Mortensen 187). If a sweaty guy in an oversized
costume with a giant mustache came up to me and asked me to do the wave I
couldn’t think of a reason not to buy in. Could you?
Kurt W. Mortensen, author of Maximum Influence, states, “The proper fusion of emotion and logic
will speak to both the conscious and subconscious parts of the mind and
increase your ability to persuade” (Mortensen 138). Since my last blog entry I
have continued to practice using the Law of Balance with persuasive intentions.
Recently the weather has transitioned from the sweltering cold to the pleasant
and gentle warm air of spring. Excited that the weather had finally permitted
it, I decided to play basketball last week. As I was heading outside I noticed
that my sister was sitting on the couch and realized that it was the perfect opportunity
to test my persuasive abilities. I strolled over to my sister and asked her if
she wanted to play basketball, to which she was hesitant to agree. I explained
to her that exercise was good for her health and that basketball was fun to
play. To take things a bit further I pointed to the window and emphasized that
the warm weather had finally come, which called for celebration. After a few
minutes of pestering my sister I persuaded her to play basketball by using a
balance of logic and emotion. By playing basketball she would get exercise
while having fun in the gentle breeze of spring.
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