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On August 30, 2016, Anonymous posted a "quite disturbing" video of a young woman caving in to herd behavior by standing up whenever a random beep was heard in the waiting area of an eye exam office ("Xenia eye clinic"). The video went viral on Facebook, with 78M views (though surprisingly, not on YouTube).

While this experiment is similar to the monkeys ladder experiment, the video is probably staged, though it features Dr. Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, expert on social influence.

What is the source of this video sequence, obviously cut from a longer feature, and to what degree was it staged?

Hidden camera social experiment proves most people are sheep

Dan Dascalescu
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    This question jumps around a bit, and I am trying to work out how to clean it up to focus on an actual claim. The title "Most people are sheep" is meaningless, and should be changed. If the question is "Where is this from?" that's more a Movies & TV Stack Exchange trivia question than a Skeptics.SE question. (Answer: [Brain Games, S05E08](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Games_(National_Geographic))). – Oddthinking Nov 22 '16 at 10:19
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    If the question is "Was this *particular* demonstration staged?" it is going to be very hard to answer - who knows? If the question is "Does this particular experiment typically give this result?", we may be able to answer. If you want to ask a more general question about the science of [Social Conformity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative_social_influence), you are probably better off reading up in an encyclopedia. – Oddthinking Nov 22 '16 at 10:25
  • @Oddthinking: I've rephrased the question. One clue that makes me think the demonstration was staged is that the target woman never asks what's going on. The fact that a man takes a seat between two other people, where other less "in your space" seats were available, is expected to be part of the experiment. – Dan Dascalescu Nov 22 '16 at 10:26
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    I am skeptical that the conclusion "Most people are sheep" can be drawn from that experiment. Most people are socially smart and adjust their behavior, or mirror other peoples' behavior to fit in. That would be my conclusion. – daraos Nov 22 '16 at 11:02
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    @daraos `mirror other peoples' behavior to fit in` and how that is different from "being sheep"? – Federico Nov 22 '16 at 11:41
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    anyway, for early examples of a similar study, see http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/h0026570 (Group inhibition of bystander intervention in emergencies, 1968) – Federico Nov 22 '16 at 11:47
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    @Federico So what exactly is meant with "Sheep"? – daraos Nov 22 '16 at 12:04
  • @daraos (trying to) be part of the herd to avoid being the odd one, i.e. exactly yours `mirror other peoples' behavior to fit in` – Federico Nov 22 '16 at 12:07
  • Well, then I don't see any controversy here. – daraos Nov 22 '16 at 12:18
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    @Federico I think daraos' point is that, especially in this case, what is the harm? This proves nothing on a grand scale and makes zero connections, maybe the target woman was having fun and enjoying herself. My impression is, even if it wasn't staged, there really isn't that much of a point to the video besides marketing. – Jeff Lambert Nov 22 '16 at 17:20
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    @Federico Sheep can be led to literal slaughter. If adjusting to social norms was "being a sheep" then mama was right: I would jump off a bridge if everyone else did. –  Nov 23 '16 at 09:54
  • Not to mention this is an anecdote, not a proper study. –  Nov 23 '16 at 09:55
  • @fredsbend see the paper I linked. people could be led to suicide (room full of actors and 1 subject. actors don't move when smoke fills room, subject neither) – Federico Nov 23 '16 at 10:05
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    There was an interesting demonstration on a Nova special where the compare the behavior of chimps to children. Both are shown a acrylic case with treats inside and a complicated method for opening it. The children then follow what they were shown. The chimps inspect the case and find an easier way in. The human tendency to mimic and follow is not a defect. It's why we have civilization and chimps don't. The minority of people who think more like chimpanzees are required for innovation but if everyone was like that, humans could never organize effectively. – JimmyJames Nov 23 '16 at 17:27

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