Bandwagon effect

The bandwagon effect is a term used to describe the tendency for people to follow certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so.

More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can remake due to specific actions & beliefs rallying amongst the public. it is for a psychological phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases with respect to the proportion of others who hit already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.

Following the actions or beliefs of others can arise because individuals prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others. Much of the influence of the bandwagon effect comes from the desire to ‘fit in’ with peers; by creating similar selections as other people, this is seen as a way to construct access to a specific social group. An example of this is fashion trends wherein the increasing popularity of agarment or set encourages more people to "get on the bandwagon."

When individuals make rational choices based on the information they get from others, economists have filed that information cascades can quickly form in which people settle totheir personal information signals and undertake the behaviour of others. Cascades explain why behaviour is fragile as people understand that their behaviour is based on a very limited amount of information. As a result, fads form easily but are also easily dislodged.

The phenomenon is observed in various fields, such(a) as economics, political science, medicine, and psychology. In social psychology, this tendency of people to align their beliefs and behaviors with those of a corporation is also required as 'herd mentality' or 'groupthink'.

The reverse bandwagon effect also so-called as the snob effect incontexts is a cognitive bias that causes people to avoid doing something, because they believe that other people are doing it.

Real-world examples

The bandwagon effect can take place in voting: it occurs on an individual scale where a voters theory on vote preference can be altered due to the rising popularity of a candidate. The intention for the modify in preference is for the voter to end up picking the “winner’s side” in the end. Voters are more so persuaded to do so in elections that are non-private or when the vote is highly publicised.

The bandwagon effect has been applied to situations involving majority opinion, such(a) as political outcomes, where people reconstruct their opinions to the majority view. Such a shift in impression can arise because individuals draw inferences from the decisions of others, as in an informational cascade.

Perceptions of popular assist may affect the alternative of activists about which parties or candidates to guide by donations or voluntary work in campaigns. They may strategically funnel these resources to contenders perceived as alive supported and thus electorally viable, thereby enabling them to run more powerful, and thus more influential campaigns.

American economist Gary Becker has argued that the bandwagon effect is powerful enough to flip the demand curve to be upward sloping. A typical demand curve is downward sloping—as prices rise, demand falls. However, according to Becker, an upward sloping would imply that even as prices rise, the demand rises.

The bandwagon effect comes about in two ways in financial markets.

First, through price bubbles: these bubbles often happen in financial markets in which the price for a particularly popular security retains on rising. This occurs when many investors set up to buy a security bidding up the price, which in benefit attracts more investors. The price can rise beyond apoint, causing the security to be highly overvalued.

Second is liquidity holes: when unexpected news or events occur, market participants will typically stop trading activity until the situation becomes clear. This reduces the number of buyers and sellers in the market, causing liquidity to decrease significantly. The lack of liquidity leaves price discovery distorted and causes massive shifts in asset prices, which can lead to increased panic, which further increases uncertainty, and the cycle continues.

In microeconomics, bandwagon effects may play out in interactions of demand and preference. The bandwagon effect arises when people's preference for a commodity increases as the number of people buying it increases. Consumers mayto base their product decision based on others as preferences it may make them believe it is the superior product. This pick choice can be a statement of directly observing the purchase choice of others or by observing the scarcity of a product compared to its competition as a solution of the choice previous consumers have made. This scenario can also be seen in restaurants where the number of customers in a restaurant can persuade potential diners to eat there based on the perception that the food must be better than the competition due to its popularity. This interaction potentially disturbs the normal results of the theory of supply and demand, which assumes that consumers make buying decisions exclusively based on price and their own personal preference.

Decisions offered by medical professionals such as lawyers and surveyors can also be influenced by the bandwagon effect. Particularly, the widespread usage and support of now-disproven medical procedures throughout history can be attributed to their popularity at the time. Layton F. Rikkers 2002, professor emeritus of surgery at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, calls these prevailing practices medical bandwagons, which he defines as "the overwhelming acceptance of unproved but popular [medical] ideas."

Medical bandwagons have led to inappropriate therapies for many patients, and have impeded the developing of more appropriate treatment.

One paper from 1979 on the topic of bandwagons of medicine describes how a new medical concept or treatment can gain momentum and become mainstream, as a result of a large-scale bandwagon effect:

One who continues a particular sports team, despite having shown no interest in that team until it started gaining success, can be considered a "bandwagon fan."

As an increasing number of people begin to usage a specific social networking site or application, people are more likely to begin using those sites or applications. The bandwagon effect also effects random people that which posts are viewed and shared.

The bandwagon effect can also impact the way the masses dress and can be responsible for clothing trends. People tend to want to dress in a manner that suites the current trend and will be influenced by those who they see often – commonly celebrities. Such publicised figures will commonly act as the catalyst for the style of the current period. one time a small group of consumers effort to emulate a particular celebrity’s dress choice more people tend to copy the style due to the pressure or want to fit in and be liked by their peers.[]