Peer Pressure Vs Saving Money - Which is More Impactful?
In 2003, Robert Cialdini’s Graduate students put signs on 1,207 doors asking residents to turn off their air conditioners and use the fans instead. They were given four reasons why they should do so.
1) Save money
2) Save the planet
3) Be a good Citizen
4) Your neighbors do it
The students expected that saving money would be the winning reason. However, none of the first three arguments had any impact. It was the 4th argument that had the most significant impact. It’s the power of peer pressure that makes the difference. We see these today in our electrical bill (in the US). The bill includes a comparison of how we are doing versus our neighbors.
More about this experiment in this Ted Talk
so what does that have to do with Security Awareness?
Actually, many things:
1# We Need More Proof. The auto industry has proof of good behavior because car accidents and statistics are public knowledge. For example, wearing a seatbelt has reduced the number of people that die in crashes. However, In cyber security, we don’t have this type of “proof” data because organizations don’t share data with others. We can’t learn and improve or create KPI’s based on statistics that we don’t have.
2# We need to promote security awareness. This is beyond the responsibility of a single vendor. We should all become ambassadors and show our friends and family that we are doing better than them :) And companies should provide employees with tools they can take home and spread awareness.
Not sure where to start?
Let’s start with the five things you can do to stay safe online
I Did The Bare Minimum To Stay Safe Online. How about you?
Free Cyber Security Awareness Training
And we also have Free Family Cyber Security Awarenss Training on Wizer’s home page - Scroll down.
Or our cyber security awareness training for employees - you can register for free.
