Page 64 - The Power to Change Anything

Change the Way You Change Minds 53

Create a surrogate for actual experience. Create a vicarious
experience. The only way Bandura was able to convince pho-
bics to do anything with a snake was through a surrogate. By
watching what happened to other people, subjects were able
to experience the outcomes almost as if they were their own.
Nobody said a word to the phobics, and they were required to
do nothing themselves, but when they watched others in
action, they discovered that if a person touches a boa, nothing
bad happens.
This is what the manufacturing fact-finding team would
eventually have to do with their colleagues. They’d have to drop
verbal persuasion as their primary influence tool and create a
vicarious experience that worked with their peers.

CREATE PROFOUND VICARIOUS EXPERIENCES

Bandura and his team had discovered something profound.
First, if you want people to change their persistent and resis-
tant view of the world, drop verbal persuasion and come up with
innovative ways to create personal experiences. Second, when
you can’t take everyone on the field trip, create vicarious expe-
riences. This not only helped Bandura’s team cure phobics in
a matter of hours, but within a couple of years it became the
primary technique for driving large-scale change efforts. In fact,
over the past few decades, when aimed at social change, the
effective use of vicarious models has saved millions of lives and
improved the quality of life for tens of millions more.
And now the good news. Since most of you won’t be lead-
ing a worldwide change effort any time soon, it’s important to
note that vicarious modeling is also one of the most accessible
influence tools a parent, coach, community leader, or execu-
tive can employ.
Earlier we alluded to the work of Miguel Sabido and oth-
ers who had clogged the streets of Mexico City with people in
hot pursuit of adult literacy pamphlets. Previously, every