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sychology

Social Proof and the Opera

Most people have no difficulty identifying canned laughter. They can usually tell that it is a recording and not an actual audience that is laughing so loudly. If a poll were taken we would almost certainly find that most people do not like canned laughter. Why then do television executives insist on putting a laughter track on almost every comedy show? Don't they know any better?

Actually, the behavior of the TV producers is not hard to understand. Studies (e.g., Smyth & Fuller, 1972) find that we will laugh more and longer if the show is presented with canned laughter. But why would we laugh more if we don't like canned laughter and realize that it is phony?

The technique responsible for canned laughter is much older than the electronic media. In 1820, Sauton and Porcher leased themselves to singers and opera singers who wanted to insure an appreciative audience. Sauton and Porcher were paid to applaud the opera. These paid applauders were known as claqueurs. The actual audience responded much more enthusiastically even though the audiences knew who the claquers were. Claquing was so effective that by 1830 it had spread through the opera.

Why do people respond to canned laughter and claquing? One explanation for these phenomenon is what social psychologists have termed the principle of social proof. According to this principle, people often attempt to find what is correct by observing the behavior of others.
 

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