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The bandwagon effect, also known as social proof or "cromo effect" and closely related to opportunism, is the observation that people often do and believe things because many other people do and believe the same things. Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine The effect is often pejoratively called herding instinct, particularly when applied to adolescents. Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt Herd behaviour describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction People tend to follow the crowd without examining the merits of a particular thing. The bandwagon effect is the reason for the bandwagon fallacy's success. An argumentum ad populum ( Latin: "appeal to the people" in Logic, is a fallacious argument that concludes a Proposition to be true

The bandwagon effect is well-documented in behavioral psychology and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads clearly do, with "the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have already done so. " [1] As more people come to believe in something, others also hop on the bandwagon regardless of the underlying evidence.

Contents

Origin of the Phrase

Literally, a bandwagon is a wagon which carries the band in a parade, circus or other entertainment. [2] The phrase "jump on the bandwagon" was first used in American politics in 1848 because of Dan Rice, President Lincoln's court jester. Dan Rice ( January 23, 1823 &ndash February 22, 1900) was an American entertainer of many talents most famously as a Clown [3] Dan Rice, a professional circus clown, used his bandwagon for Zachary Taylor's campaign appearances, to gain attention by using the music. Zachary Taylor (November 24 1784 &ndash July 9 1850 was an American military leader and the twelfth President of the United States. As Taylor's campaign became more successful, more politicians strove for a seat on the bandwagon, hoping to be associated with the success. Later, during the time of William Jennings Bryan's 1900 presidential campaign, bandwagons had become standard in campaigns,[4] and 'jump on the bandwagon' was used as a derogatory term, implying that people were associating themselves with the success without considering what they associated themselves with. For other persons of the same name see William Bryan and William Jennings.

Use in Politics

The bandwagon effect occurs in voting: some people vote for those candidates or parties who are likely to succeed (or are proclaimed as such by the media), hoping to be on the 'winner's side' in the end. [5] The bandwagon effect has been labeled to situations involving majority opinion, such as political outcomes, where people alter their opinions to the majority view (McAllister and Studlar 721).

Because of time zones, election results are broadcast in the eastern parts of the United States while polls are still open in the west. Due to this trend, behavior of voters in western United States has been previously investigated. In 1980, NBC News declared Ronald Reagan to be the winner of the presidential race on the basis of the exit polls several hours before the voting booths closed in the west. NBC News is the news division of American Television network NBC, a part of NBC Universal, which is majority-owned by General Electric

It is also said to be important in the American Presidential Primary elections. States all vote at different times, spread over some months, rather than all on one day, some states (Iowa, New Hampshire) have special precedence to go early while others have to wait until a certain date. This is often said to give undue influence to these states, a win in these early states is said to give a Candidate the "Big Mo" and has propelled many candidates to win the nomination. Because of this other states often try frontloading (going as early as possible) to make their say as influential as they can. In this year's (2008's) primary election many states had all or some of there delegates banned from the convention by the cental party organisations for going too early. 5 states may lose half of GOP delegates Florida Democrats Stripped of Convention Delegates Due to Early Primary

Several studies have been done in order to test this theory of how the bandwagon effect and politics tie together. In 1994, a study by Robert K. Goidel and Todd G. Shields was published in The Journal of Politics. The Journal of Politics is a leading Peer-reviewed international general journal of Political science founded in 1939 and published quarterly (February At the University of Kentucky, 180 students were randomly assigned to nine groups where they were asked questions about certain election scenarios. The scenarios presented to each group were identical, although about 70% of subjects received knowledge concerning the expected winner (Goidel and Shields 807). Independents, which are those who do not vote based on the endorsement of any party and are ultimately neutral, were extremely influenced and tended to lean towards the person expected to win (Goidel and Shields 807-808). Expectations played a significant role throughout the study. It was found that independents are twice as likely to vote for the Republican candidate when the Republican is expected to win. From the results, it was also found that when the Democrat was expected to win, independent Republicans and weak Republicans were more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate (Goidel and Shields 808).

A study by Albert Mehrabian, reported in The Journal of Applied Social Psychology (1998), tested the relative importance of the bandwagon (rally around the winner) effect versus the underdog (empathic support for those trailing) effect. Bogus poll results presented to voters prior to the 1996 Republican primary clearly showed the bandwagon effect to predominate on balance. Indeed, approximately 6% of the variance in the vote was explained in terms of the bogus polls, showing that poll results (whether accurate or inaccurate) can significantly influence election results in closely-contested elections. In particular, assuming that one candidate "is an initial favorite by a slim margin, reports of polls showing that candidate as the leader in the race will increase his or her favorable margin" (Mehrabian, 1998, p. 2128). Thus, as poll results are repeatedly reported, the bandwagon effect will tend to snowball and become a powerful aid to leading candidates.

During the 1992 U. S. presidential election, Vicki G. Morwitz and Carol Pluzinski conducted a study, which was published in The Journal of Consumer Research. At a large northeastern university, some of 214 volunteer business students were given the results of student and national polls indicating that Bill Clinton was in the lead. William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III, August 19 1946 served as the forty-second President of the United States Others were not exposed to the results of the polls. Several students who had intended to vote for Bush changed their minds after seeing the poll results (Morwitz and Pluzinski 58-64).

Internationally, British polls have shown an increase to public exposure. Sixty-eight percent of voters had heard of the general election campaign results of the opinion poll in 1979. In 1987, this number of voters aware of the results increased to 74% (McAllister and Studlar 725). According to British studies, there is a consistent pattern of apparent bandwagon effects for the leading party.

Use in Microeconomics

In microeconomics, bandwagon effect describes interactions of demand and preference. Microeconomics is a branch of Economics that studies how individuals households and firms and some states make decisions to allocate limited resources typically in markets [6] The bandwagon effect arises when people's preference for a commodity increases as the number of people buying it increases. This interaction potentially disturbs the normal results of the theory of supply and demand, which assumes that consumers make buying decisions solely based on price and their own personal preference. Supply and demand is an Economic model describing effects on price and quantity in a Market. See network effect and Veblen good. In Economics and Business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has In Economics, Veblen goods are a theoretical group of commodities for which peoples' preference for buying them increases as a direct function of their

Use in the Music Industry

In music, bandwagon effect is a term for people who are fond of a musical group based on how popular the artist is at the time. Music is an Art form in which the medium is Sound organized in Time. For instance, certain people appreciate a song only once it is well-known.

Use in Sports

In sports, a 'bandwagoner' is a derogatory term for people who begin flocking to a team after they have achieved success. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Fans of successful sporting teams who do not live in the traditional areas of their support are often accused of being 'bandwagon' fans, or if they only show an interest in the team when they are performing well. Bandwagoner's are also often called glory-hunters, frontrunners, or fairweather fans.


References

  1. ^ Andrew Colman, Oxford Dictionary of Psychology (Oxford: University, 2003) 77.
  2. ^ Bandwagon. Retrieved on 2007-03-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
  3. ^ Dan Rice (1823-1901) — President Lincoln's Court Jester. Retrieved on 2007-03-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
  4. ^ Bandwagon Effect. Retrieved on 2007-03-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
  5. ^ New Evidence About the Existence of a Bandwagon Effect in the Opinion Formation Process. International Political Science Review, Vol. 14, No. 2, 203-213 (1993). Retrieved on 2007-03-09. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
  6. ^ Harvey Leibenstein, “Bandwagon, Snob, and Veblen Effects in the Theory of Consumers’ Demand,” The Quarterly Journal of Economics (May 1950). Harvey Leibenstein (1922 – 1994 was a Ukrainian born American economist

Goidel, Robert K. , and Todd G. Shields. "The Vanishing Marginals, the Bandwagon, and the Mass Media. " The Journal of Politics 56 (1994): 802-810. The Journal of Politics is a leading Peer-reviewed international general journal of Political science founded in 1939 and published quarterly (February 11 Apr. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org/view/00223816/di976651/97p03825/0>.

McAllister, Ian, and Donley T. Studlar. "Bandwagon, Underdog, or Projection? Opinion Polls and Electoral Choice in Britain, 1979-1987. " The Journal of Politics 53 (1991): 720-740. The Journal of Politics is a leading Peer-reviewed international general journal of Political science founded in 1939 and published quarterly (February 9 Apr. 2007.

Mehrabian, Albert. "Effects of Poll Reports on Voter Preferences. " Journal of Applied Social Psychology 28 (1998): 2119-2130. 11 Apr. 2007 <http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_common.jhtml?nn=4>.

Morwitz, Vicki G. , and Carol Pluzinski. "Do Polls Reflect Opinions or Do Opinions Reflect Polls?" Journal of Consumer Research os 23 (1996): 53-65. 8 Apr. 2007.

See also

I n realist theories of International relations, bandwagoning refers to the act of weaker States joining a stronger power or coalition within The term " collective behavior " was first used by Robert E Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society Collective effervescence (CE is a perceived Energy formed by a gathering of people as might be experienced at a sporting event a Carnival, a Rave, or Collective intelligence is a shared or group Intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals Communal reinforcement is a social Phenomenon in which a concept or idea is repeatedly asserted in a Community, regardless of whether sufficient Empirical Conformism is a term used to describe the suspension of an individual's self-determined actions or opinions in favor of Obedience to the mandates or conventions Crowd psychology, or social facilitation theory, is a branch of Social psychology. Group behavior in Sociology refers to the situations where people interact in large or Small groups The field of Group dynamics deals with Herd behaviour describes how individuals in a group can act together without planned direction " Keeping up with the Joneses " is a popular Catchphrase in many parts of the English -speaking world A Cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgement that occurs in particular situations (see also Cognitive distortion and the Lists of thinking-related topics The short phrase "me too" became an Internet cultural phenomenon during the early and mid 1990s on Usenet, a massive distributed bulletin board system A meme (miːm consists of any idea or behavior that can pass from one person to another by learning or imitation In Economics and Business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has Ochlocracy ( Greek: οχλοκρατία or okhlokratía; Latin: ochlocratia) is government by mob or a mass of people Peer Pressure is a term describing the pressure exerted by a Peer group in encouraging a person to change their Attitude, Behavior and/or Morals Sheeple is a Term of disparagement, a Portmanteau created by combining the words " Sheep " and " people. Social comparison is a theory initially proposed by Social psychologist Leon Festinger in 1954. The spiral of silence is a Political science and Mass communication theory propounded by the German Political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann In Economics, Veblen goods are a theoretical group of commodities for which peoples' preference for buying them increases as a direct function of their Pop music as a genre features a noticeable rhythmic element catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure

Dictionary

bandwagon effect

-noun

  1. (sociology) the observation that people often do or believe what they think many other people do.
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