Critical Mass

Achieving critical  mass it’s just like “moving with the herd” in the direction they lead you to. This phenomenon, akin to animals in a herd, really, is called social proof or informational social influence.

Thanks to Wikipedia again, social proof, also known as informational social influence, is defined as:

“a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed.
Social influence in general can lead to conformity of large groups of individuals in either correct or mistaken choices, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as herd behavior. Although social proof at least in part reflects a rational motive to take into account the information of others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice, so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may reflect very little information.”

As social beings, we need to get the approval rating of people close to us or our family and friends before we could try out some new things. We do what they do, we read what they read, we wear clothes that they wear, we watch movies that they watch, we eat food that they eat because we value them and their opinions on such things. Buenos Aires tonight showed us two remarkable examples at the same landmark this evening, The first was the Justin Bieber fan club, who meet at the Obelisco once a month to sing and rave about all thing justin (see video linked.) The other phenomenom is the critical mass bike ride. In Japan there were estimates at one such event of about 80 000 people, how´s that for social proof?! Tonights ride was a modest thousand or two, check out the videos. Two distinct differences of experience resulted from being at the front or the very back.

If you went on any of the rides please leave a comment and tells how you found the experience!