How Examples Spread Good and Evil Alike
Nothing is so contagious as example; and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like. — François de La Rochefoucauld
The Law of Mimetic Influence
La Rochefoucauld’s maxim distills a law of social life: we copy what we see, and our acts kindle their own likeness. Example operates faster than argument because it lowers the cost of choice; when a path has footprints, we trust it. Thus, a single conspicuous deed—heroic or harmful—recalibrates what bystanders think is permitted and possible. The claim also implies responsibility: doing great good or evil rarely ends with the doer; it sets a standard others will inherit. With that in mind, we can trace how this ‘contagion of example’ moves through history, psychology, and networks, revealing why virtuous beginnings can compound—and why a single transgression can spawn cohorts.
Historical Faith in Exemplars
From antiquity, educators bet on imitation. Plutarch’s Lives (c. 100 CE) pairs Greek and Roman figures so readers might emulate virtue and shun vice; he writes that character is ‘engraved’ by models. Later, Erasmus’s On the Education of a Christian Prince (1516) counseled rulers to study good predecessors, assuming conduct spreads downward. Even negative precedents mattered: Tacitus chronicles how imperial cruelty normalized sycophancy. These texts share La Rochefoucauld’s intuition—example is the curriculum of public life—and they prepare the ground for modern evidence on how influence travels.
Psychology of Modeling and Social Proof
Empirical psychology echoes the moralists. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiments (1961–1963) showed children who watched adults behave aggressively were likelier to imitate aggression, even without reward. Robert Cialdini’s Influence (1984) formalized ‘social proof’: we treat others’ behavior as information about what is correct, especially under uncertainty. Moreover, Dorothy Tennov’s and others’ work on emotional contagion suggests that even feelings are mimicked through subtle cues. Altogether, these findings explain why examples—visible, repeated, and salient—become default scripts that people rehearse.
Networks and the Mechanics of Spread
Beyond individuals, networks magnify example. Christakis and Fowler’s analyses of the Framingham network (NEJM, 2007–2008) reported that obesity, smoking cessation, and happiness clustered and propagated along social ties. In controlled settings, Damon Centola (Science, 2010) showed that ‘complex contagions’—new norms requiring reinforcement—spread best through clustered, redundant connections. These results clarify La Rochefoucauld’s phrase ‘produces its like’: actions ripple not merely linearly but through patterned webs, where structure decides whether a spark becomes a cascade.
When Good Begets More Good
History offers luminous chains of imitation. Gandhi’s satyagraha modeled disciplined nonviolence that inspired the U.S. civil rights movement; Martin Luther King Jr. explicitly credited Gandhi’s example in Stride Toward Freedom (1958). More recently, the 2014 ALS Ice Bucket Challenge spread peer-to-peer, raising over $100 million and funding gene discoveries, because public, playful acts invited immediate replication. In both cases, visible deeds reframed what ordinary people could do next, turning spectators into participants and intention into momentum.
When Evil Multiplies by Example
The same dynamic can darken. The ‘Werther effect’—named after Goethe’s 1774 novel—describes spikes in suicides following sensationalized reports; meta-analyses prompted media guidelines to curb mimicry (CDC, WHO). Likewise, corruption studies show that witnessing impunity normalizes rule-breaking, making petty graft seem rational. Even in small groups, one cheating act can set a permissive norm, as Dan Ariely recounts in The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty (2012). Thus, bad precedents do more than harm once; they plant templates for repetition.
Steering Contagion Toward the Good
Because example is infectious, design and leadership can harness it. Public policy uses norm signals: Opower’s home energy reports, comparing households to efficient neighbors, reduced electricity use across millions (Allcott, 2011). In organizations, leaders who ‘walk the talk’ set ceilings and floors for conduct; clear, early, prosocial acts become the story others tell and copy. Consequently, curating exemplars—who is praised, promoted, and made visible—may be the most leverage we have over what multiplies next.