Psychology behind Mannequin Challenge and Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

All of a sudden, the Mannequin Challenge and photos from the Victoria's Secret Fashion show in Paris has flooded my Instagram and other social media pages.



Video - Taylor Swift and her squad doing a Mannequin Challenge.

Photos from the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2016

The psychology behind the Mannequin Challenge and the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show might be social proofing, social modeling, the availability heuristics and mere exposure.

As the accelerating prevalence of using social media in people's normal daily activities, we are all more easily exposed and available to what celebrities and everyone around us are doing. Hence, we are more susceptible to be influenced by acting in line with what everyone is doing. In this case, the Mannequin Challenge suddenly became contagious and spread all around the world (even in collectivist cultures such as China!), and people would see Victoria's Secret as a potential place to do some Christmas shopping for girlfriends/friends.

Sijia Zhou (Katie)