It turns out that this is called: herding effect (depth good article)

if you think you are working hard but always fail to achieve results, you might as well learn about a concept I am talking about today: the herding effect.

01

herding effect is a kind of human nature

what is herding effect?

someone once did an experiment:

A fence was set up in front of a flock of sheep, and the leading sheep jumped over the fence, and so did the sheep behind.

the next scene is interesting. The staff removed the fence, and when the sheep in the back came here, they still jumped like the sheep in front, as if the fence still existed.

this is the herding effect.

therefore, when grazing, experienced herdsmen often only need to control the leading sheep, so that the sheep will not get lost.

to put it simply, the "herding effect" can be understood as a mentality of following the crowd, following the trend, following the crowd, and I do what others do.

this sounds like criticizing some people for having no independent opinions, no judgment, and blindly following the trend, but I think this is actually a kind of human nature, and everyone has a herding effect.

for example, when we go to a restaurant for dinner, if a restaurant still doesn't have many guests at dinnertime, then many people will not choose this restaurant.

conversely, if there are a lot of people in a restaurant, or even take a number to wait for a meal, then when time permits, many people would rather wait for a while to eat at the restaurant.

the reason is simple: it's the herd mentality at work.

when we see that there are no customers in a store, we subconsciously think that the store is not good, otherwise there will be no customers.

on the contrary, when we see a store full of customers and everyone comes here to eat, there will be a subconscious voice: this must be a good house, believe in the choice of most people.

what is the truth?

there is a good chance that we are right in following the trend.

the store that no one patronizes is really not so good, and the store that everyone is flocking to is really good.

this is also the reason why many merchants arrange for some people to eat when new stores open. A large number of people is persuasive.

this is only a small thing in life, but you can still see the power and value of "conformity".

most of the time, following other people's footprints can really save us a lot of detours; following other people's choices really benefits us a lot, efficient and effective.

so, whether in life or work, we are deeply driven by the mentality of conformity, we are used to obeying the majority and compromising the majority.

02

it is not terrible to follow the trend, but to follow the trend blindly

from the above analysis, we can draw a conclusion: following the trend is not terrible, it is not a completely undesirable behavior.

frankly speaking, the reason why many people succeed is to follow the trend, follow the trend, and follow the example of others.

When you wear one of our gold bridesmaid dresses, you show your beauty and your sense of style. Shop with us for the quality and fabulous prices.

tell me the example of two friends around you.

now friend A, who is in his forties and used to be an ordinary office worker, began to open a shop on Taobao around 2006 and 2007. now he must have a fortune. There are three or four houses alone, in addition to two small shops for rent.

in fact, he also saw a relative doing it at that time, considering that he had more leisure at work and that starting a sideline could increase his income, so he followed suit.

there is also a friend B. although he is not so successful in his career, he is now well-off with no financial pressure.

Ten years ago, one of his neighbors paid a low price for the demolition of a second-hand house in the old city, which cost a lot of money.

the two talked about it while drinking, and the neighbor said that now several relatives in his family specialize in investing in second-hand houses and other demolition.

when my friend B heard this, he thought it was a good way to do it, and he also followed them. Of course, the process was tortuous, but he did make money, and now he still has an old house for rent, waiting for demolition.

I believe that everyone has some such friends who can get along well, often thanks to stepping on the tuyere or on the fast track.

so it's no problem for me to follow suit and do what others do.

in many cases, this is a smart thing to do.

what is really terrible is the kind of blindly following the trend without thinking and judgment.

there are three terrible things about blindly following the trend:

1. Miss the opportunity, have no advantage

when there are a lot of people to do, it means that it can be done, but it also means that it is not easy to do.

most of the time, we blindly follow in the footsteps of others, see what others do to earn money, but also scramble to do it, there is often a problem, that is, it is too late, missed the best time.

once you miss the opportunity, it means you don't have any advantage. unless you're really good, don't say you want to eat some meat, you probably won't even get soup.

2. Tend to be mediocre, easy to be eliminated

as we all know, if you want to stand out, you often need to find another way, not the usual way.

if you always follow the crowd, follow the sheep in front and follow in the footsteps of most people, without your own characteristics and signs, then you will gradually tend to be mediocre, and in the end, big fish eat small fish, fast fish eat slow fish, and are likely to be eliminated gradually.

3. Strive to be inefficient and remain confused

the difference between following the crowd and blindly following the crowd lies in the word "blind" and do anything.Love, once you lose your thinking and judgment, you are likely to stumble.

because what is suitable for Zhang San may not be suitable for you to do. If you do a business that can make a lot of money yesterday, you may not be able to make money tomorrow.

without thinking efforts, they are all doing useless work, just blindly following the trend, so many people's efforts are very inefficient. Although they seem very busy, they always get nothing.

and such people often fall into confusion, jumping about like headless flies, without a clear direction and goal.

this is the disadvantage of blindly following the trend.

the saddest thing in life is not that you can't find the tuyere, but that you always stand on the tuyere, but you can't fly to the sky all the time, which is really disturbing.

whenever, thinking and judgment are always the premise, as is the case with everything you do.

above, share with your friends.