B. Decisions Based on Social Proof
If the outcome of a decision has a social correlation, then we become more aware of our decisions, and we focus more on taking the right decision. A social correlation is where the outcome of a decision has either an effect on others’ life or has an effect on our life based on the judgment of others about the decision.
Due to the fact that we are social animals, it matters to us how people perceive and judge us. A lot of our behaviors and decisions are modeled by social norms and social conditioning.
For example, you may be shopping in a country-side mass market and suddenly may feel the urge to urinate. You may look around and may see an empty place near a closed shop. However, you would still prefer to hold on to your bladder, as you may feel that the act of urinating in a marketplace, in spite of the fact that no one is watching, and the shop is closed is not right. People may judge me as a bad person even if they don’t say anything.
When you choose a life partner, you are often inclined to make your relatives, friends, and neighbors like your potential future partner. You may do a lot of things, (for instance arranging a meeting), for this to happen. The very imagination that your life partner is not socially accepted and no one wants to have anything to do with you both in the future may make you feel afraid and devastated.
From the start of human civilization, and even before that, social cooperation has been a key to our survival as a species. We are a weak species. We can’t run as fast as panthers, can’t jump from one tree to another like monkeys, don’t have venom like snakes, don’t have jaws like crocodiles, don’t have thick skin like Turtles, can’t fly like birds. We have been vulnerable to drought, flood, wild animals, ice, volcano, and so many more adversities.
The way species have come this far is by dividing the labor and specializing skills and then cooperating. Peasants have produced food. Potters made utensials. Ironsmiths have made weapons. Warriors have fought. Doctors, teachers, rulers, construction workers, and we have divided all potential roles and coexisted as a species.
Therefore being socially rejected is a genetic fear that we all carry. Such a rejection is almost equivalent to death. You may not have a doctor when ill, no one will be teaching your children, and no plumber will come to your home.
Even though such social isolations are rare and society has become a self-sustainable machine, our genetic memory still generates immense fear even at the very thought of being socially rejected.