Social Proof and Mimetic Desire
Under uncertainty people treat others' behaviour as evidence of correct behaviour, and Girard pushed it further: we copy the desire itself. In markets this turns price into its own justification, buying begetting buying until the loop snaps. The test is simple - if the strongest argument for a position is who else owns it, you hold a queue number rather than a thesis.
16 books · 5 people behind it · 4 resources
Start here
- Influence: The Psychology of PersuasionRobert B. Cialdini, 1984
- Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of CrowdsCharles Mackay, 1841
- Irrational ExuberanceRobert J. Shiller, 2000
The people behind it 5
Each person holds a book in this entry or names it in their own tags.
Investors 1
Academics 3
Journalists 1
Resources 4
- Social ProofShane Parrish · essay · Under uncertainty we treat others' behaviour as evidence.
- The Limits of Crowd WisdomShane Parrish · essay · Crowds are wise only while members stay independent.
- The Wisdom of CrowdsMichael J. Mauboussin · paper · When aggregation works and when it collapses into a mob.
- SpeculationMorgan Housel · essay · When price becomes its own justification.
Books 16
Gustave Le Bon · 1895 · The founding study of crowd psychology behind every mania
Eric Hoffer · 1951 · Mass movements and the psychology of the true believer
Robert B. Cialdini · 1984
Andrew WilkinsonCharlie MungerChristopher BeggChristopher BloomstranJim CollinsMohnish PabraiNaval RavikantNick SleepPatrick CollisonAdam RobinsonAlexis OhanianDavid CancelDerek SiversGuy KawasakiMatej LatinMax LevchinMichael BatkoNate O'BrienNathan MurphyNir EyalNoah KaganPatrick O'ShaughnessyPeter ThielRamit SethiSam ParrSamy KamkarSuperbook reading listsThe Barefoot InvestorThe Rational WalkTobi LütkeTristan HarrisWarren Buffett
Edward Chancellor · 1999
Robert J. Shiller · 2000
James Surowiecki · 2004
Dale Carnegie · 1936 · The original popular manual on persuasion and handling people
Rene Girard · 1978 · Girard's mimetic theory in full; desire copied from other people
Timur Kuran · 1995 · Preference falsification: why opinion cascades and regimes collapse suddenly
T2 Pre-Suasion
Robert B. Cialdini · 2016 · Cialdini on framing attention before the persuasive message arrives
Steven Pinker · 2025 · Common knowledge as the hidden coordination mechanism in social life
Rene Girard · 1963 · Girard reading Dostoevsky; mimetic rivalry and resentment
Michael Suk-Young Chwe · 2001 · Common knowledge and coordination; why rituals and advertising work
Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, Robert B. Cialdini · 2008 · Cialdini's persuasion research condensed into fifty applied findings