Normative Social Influence

There is a fundamental human need to belong to social groups. Evolution has taught us that survival and prosperity is more likely if we live and work together. However, to live together, we need to agree on common beliefs, values, attitudes and behaviors that reduce in-group threats act for the common good.

We thus learn to conform to rules of other people. And the more we see others behaving in a certain way or making particular decisions, the more we feel obliged to follow suit.

This will happen even when we are in a group of complete strangers. We will go along with the others to avoid looking like a fool.

National culture also has a significant effect, and countries like Japan are far more likely to be influenced by more individualistic cultures such as in the USA (although it is a testament to the power of this effect that it still has a massive impact here).

Research
Solomon Asch showed a group of people a line on a card and asked them to find a matching line from a group of three lines on another card, one of which was pretty obviously the right choice. The catch was that all except one person in the group were collaborators and chose the wrong line. When it came to the ‘victim’s turn, guess what? In a range of experiments, 76% of them followed suit. The presence of just one supporter reduced this to 18%.

Example
Fads and fashions lean heavily on normative social influence. So do racial, political and other situations of persuasion.

Application
To change a person’s behavior, put them in a group who (perhaps primed) clearly all exhibit the desired behavior. Then engineer the situation so the person must exhibit the behavior or face potential rejection or other social punishment. If they do not comply, ensure the group gives steadily increasing social punishment rather than rejecting the target person immediately. When they do comply, they should receive social reward (eg. praise, inclusion).

Where you want to do something and the group in which you currently are socially punishes you for doing it, make a conscious decision as to whether it is worth fighting back or just giving up and leaving. If they mean nothing to you, just carry on and ignore them.

It can also be very heartening to watch other people resisting (and your doing so may well give heart to other doubters).

You can also acquire idiosyncrasy credits, where the group puts up with your eccentricities. To do this, be consistent in what you do, whilst also showing that in doing so you are not threatening the integrity of the group.

TIME is Precious. Treasure It.

Our time is like jam, the more you try to spread it, the thinner it gets. We need to be realistic about the amount of time we have available.

We need to maintain a proper balance in our life by allocating the time we have. There are occasions where saying no is the best time management practice there is. We need to determine what activities best utilize our time in order to achieve the results we desire in all areas of our life!

"Lost yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with 60 diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever." ~ Horace Mann

Time is one of the few things we cannot stop. We can stop all the clocks in our home, we can refuse to wear a watch, we can throw out all the calendars, however, time will continue to tick by.

Time is precious, yet too often we do not use it to our advantage. Nor do we appreciate it. Time cannot be captured and kept until we need it. It is today, this moment. Yesterday is long gone, and there are no guarantees we will see tomorrow. Today is what we have and how we use it determines our appreciation of time.

T...truthful about how you are using your time.
I...initiative - take it, rather than procrastinate.
M...manage your time, do not waste it.
E...efficient and effective use of your time will allow you to achieve more than you can imagine.