Everybody Hates Jerry

If you’re a fan of witty workplace comedies like I am, you know all about Parks and Recreation.  The show follows a Parks department in Pawnee, Indiana run by Ron Swanson, a manly man who believes in the elimination of government waste.  The show centers around Leslie Knope, an aspiring young woman who dreams of landing a seat on the city council.  The ensemble cast feed off of each other’s energy and the viewer can feel the chemistry between all of the characters- except Jerry. 

Jerry Gergich is, quite honestly, the only “normal” character on the show, yet he is ridiculed constantly by his coworkers.  He is hardworking and loyal, a skillful pianist, with a beautiful wife and three daughters.  Despite all of these redeeming qualities, he still manages to be disliked by the entire department.  Why?

Normative social influence seems to be occurring here.  We learned that this is the influence of others that leads us to conform in order to be liked and accepted.  People make fun of Jerry because they fear that if they defend him, they will be roasted next.  They want to be liked by their coworkers so they join in to prevent the group’s disapproval.  

We also learned that normative social influence leads to public compliance, but not private acceptance.  One of the characters, Ben Wyatt, is forced to spend an entire day alone with Jerry, and soon realizes that he is actually a great guy.  He does not crack jokes because the group that he is conforming to is not present.  This is because he wants to be accepted by the department, but knows what they do is wrong. 

In the episode “Jerry’s Retirement,” the department soon realizes they need to assign a new “Jerry” to be the butt of the jokes.  They elect Tom Haverford, a young entrepreneur with too many failed businesses to count.  Suddenly, all of Tom’s coworkers, who he previously had gotten along with, turn on him.  When I first watched, I could not believe that everyone just agreed to this, but I know now that it was the result of normative social influence.  They were all just grateful it wasn’t them, and did not want to be rejected like Tom now was, so they conformed and turned on him.  

There is tons of research that supports the presence of normative social influence.  One study conducted by California State University reported on the ability of printed normative messages to influence conservation behavior among hotel guests.  Result suggested that hotel guests were more likely to reuse their towels when presented with a printed normative message, such as “Nearly 75% of hotel guests choose to reuse their towels each day. To support our guests who want to conserve, this hotel has initiated a conservation program.”  The control group, who received the following message: “This hotel has initiated a conservation program,” were not as likely as the first group to reuse their towels.  This implies that normative social influence can cause a change in behavior.  

--Hunter Nardone

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15534510701755614 

Wesley P. Schultz , Azar M. Khazian & Adam C. Zaleski (2008) Using normative social influence to promote conservation among hotel guests, Social Influence, 3:1, 4-23, DOI: 10.1080/15534510701755614