The Bandwagon Effect And Conformity
The bandwagon effect is dependent on majority influence. Majority influence occurs when the conformity is gained by a smaller group of people by following the beliefs of a large number of people in a society. Consequently, bandwagon effect occurs. Conformity can be interpreted as compliance, internalisation and identification. Firstly, compliance occurs when the people simply agree with the majority to gain their acceptance. Next, internalisation means that someone follows the majority because he or she has accepted their viewpoints. Unlike internalisation, identification exists because he or she wants to behave like them. Therefore, people rarely belong to the minority because they could gain more psychological satisfaction by belonging to
majority. Apart from that, in cognitive aspects, systematic thinking is biased by the automatic associations. In implicit attitude measure, people conform to the majority due to the automatic cognitive activation. For example, people would feel that majority is “safe”, “positive” and “right”. On the other hand, a minority is related to “unusual” and “risky”. (Dickel & Bohner, 2012). These people would be known as conformists.
majority. Apart from that, in cognitive aspects, systematic thinking is biased by the automatic associations. In implicit attitude measure, people conform to the majority due to the automatic cognitive activation. For example, people would feel that majority is “safe”, “positive” and “right”. On the other hand, a minority is related to “unusual” and “risky”. (Dickel & Bohner, 2012). These people would be known as conformists.