Cialdini Group Essay

The Socially Proven Knowledge of Authority, and its Affect on Consumer Behaviour

Abraham Flores

Danish Punjwani 209990797

Lori Sham

Mathew Kanagappa 210450328

Nicolas Tang

Consumers often listen or follow opinions from authoritative figures. Authority figures who gain their status of authority through this brand affiliation, capitalize upon the sincerity of their perceived authority. If there is uncertainty in the consumption process, the consumer’s personal social proofs and authorities can breed positive brand associations. This can increase a brand’s equity and a “consumer’s marginal propensity to consume” (Microeconomics 2006). This is more pragmatically related by Cialdini wherein he states that the “...television executives are exploiting our preference for shortcuts, our tendency to react automatically on the basis of partial evidence. They know their tapes will cue our tapes. Click, whirr”, (Cialdini 2009). If a consumer is uncertain and their “click-whirr” thinking mechanism is exploited by way of social proof, their “marginal propensity to consume” (Microeconomics 2006) increases. This human reaction breeds predictable consumption patterns in consumers. This is because for every consumer their is a uncertainty in in the pre-purchase decision of how much they need to spend and consume. As such they base this decision on “brand equity” (Solomon 2008). Therefore it is the point of this essay to highlight how social proofs and authorities, and their involvement in coupling celebrities with positive brand marketing applications; can give the best example of how for the consumer: uncertainty can be skewed by personal social proofs and authorities.

The consumer need to spend derives from Cialdini’s need for the individuals search for certainty “to look to the actions of others as correct” (Cialdini 2009). From this effect the three types of learning behaviours can be seen which are “observational, classical, and instrumental” (Solomon...