The Dark & Sinister Science of Authority Blogging
This post will draw a direct comparison between building credibility as an authority blogger and a horrific psychology experiment involving near-lethal electrocution.
In 1961, Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram devised a provocative and downright scary social experiment.
Volunteers were ushered into a small room with a set of switches and a microphone – where, under the guidance of a lab-coated scientist, they would perform simple memory tests on another volunteer.
This 2nd “Learner” volunteer was located in an isolated room – communication from “Teacher” to “Learner” was via a microphone and speaker only.
Sounds fairly standard, boring psychology stuff – except that the scientist Experimenter directed the Teacher to administer increasingly lethal electric shocks to the Learner… whenever he or she failed the memory exercises.
The set up looked a little like this:
A switchboard connected to electrodes gave the Teacher (T) the power to administer shocks to the Learner (L). The Experimenter (E) instructed the Teacher to deliver the shocks whenever the Learner incorrectly answered the memory exercise questions.
Those red buttons are increasing voltage amounts – all the way to 450V!
Sounds horrible, but what does it have to do with blogging?
The experiment was a sham.
Milgram was secretly testing whether normal, balanced members of society would deliver painful electric shocks to an innocent victim… just because they’re being told to do it by a scientist.
A scientist in a lab coat.
The true experiment only included one volunteer because the “Learner” was a paid actor, not connected to any electrodes, but screaming out convincingly on cue.
The clueless volunteer would read off basic memory challenges over the microphone. The actor would deliver a “wrong” answer and the Experimenter would set the voltage level and ask the Teacher to push the big red button!
Over the speaker system, the learner would endure the noisy screams of pain from the other room.
Once they subsided, they would be asked to “continue with the experiment”, move on to the next question, up the voltage and deliver more shocks for wrong answers.
The horrendous results
Most people who hear about the Milgram experiment believe that they wouldn’t respond. They believe they have the brains to tell the “scientist” to f*** off and stop torturing people in the name of science.
It’s kind of like how 95% of car owners consider their driving skills “above average”.
When polled, Milgram’s psychology class believed only 1.2% of participants would finish the experiment all the way to deliver shocks of a lethal 450 volts.
The reality? The test revealed that sixty five percent of the clueless participants followed the scientist’s instructions all the way.
Every single volunteer did question the experiment. They received one of four replies from the scientist:
1. Please continue.
2. The experiment requires that you continue.
3. It is absolutely essential that you continue.
You have no other choice, you must go on.
If the volunteer wished to stop after receiving all four statements, the experiment was halted.
65% of volunteers did not stop.
What the hell does this mean for bloggers?!!
The one learning to take away from this horrible experiment is that everyone will respond to authority.
In this instance, people were being asked to deliberately harm an innocent person (or so they thought) and yet they did it.
They did it because a man with spectacles, a beard and white lab coat told them to.
If you’re trying to make it big as a blogger – or with any kind of business, you can tap into the same power… Not to persuade people to electrocute others, but to get them to buy your stuff!
The toothpaste companies have known about the Milgram experiment for years… why else do you think they dress their commercial actors in lab coats?
The advertising people want you to believe that the “three kinds of cleaning power” were developed by guys with glasses. They’re telling you, this is what you must buy!
The Milgram experiment got a 65% conversion rate. You should be able to do better than that, because you won’t be asking your prospects to hurt anyone when they become customers.
Of course, you probably don’t have the same authority as a scientist. The bad news is, it’s not going to be as easy as putting on a lab coat.
The good news?
If you want to tap into the psychological power of the Milgram experiment, just ask yourself this:
What is my lab coat?
What can you do so that when you say:
“It’s absolutely essential that you buy”
… people know it’s the right choice to make?
Who can you become so that when you say:
“Please continue… sign up for my newsletter.”
… everyone knows it’s a good thing to do?
Don’t under estimate the power of authority
At the end of the Milgram experiment, volunteers were always informed, practical joke style, of what had happened. They’d go meet the actor (who was probably rolling on the floor laughing).
They all learnt something about themselves that day. You can bet they all thought long and hard about how they respond to authority.
If you ever misuse your authority for evil, you’ll lose it. The authority figures worth paying attention to are those who help people grow.
In the world of blogging & business, a small handful of people have mastered the psychology of authority to help thousands.
Now it’s your turn. Where’s your lab coat?
Peter Shallard is the Shrink for Entrepreneurs. He’s stayed hidden (working hard) as therapist & consultant to a select handful of mega-successful entrepreneurs. Now for the first time, he’s publicly shedding light on the psychology of business success at his blog.
Recommended Posts
Like what you see here? Click Here to check out my guides and courses or make it simple and Hire Me. Also, please leave a comment and click that cool RT button. Thanks!
PodcastDigital Empires Radio - How to Build an Online Business Empire
Digital Empires TVMy take on good marketing and the future of platforming
Consulting ServicesFind out how I can help you make more money doing something that you love
iPhone AppsThe next phase of expansion - mobile apps and software.
