<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effect" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bandwagon effect</a>: </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The bandwagon effect is a phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases the more that they have already been adopted by others. In other words, the bandwagon effect is characterized by the probability of individual adoption increasing with respect to the proportion who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>And the reason why you were not completely happy with the other questions you found (mostly on social pressure) is that there's perhaps not a single source of "bias" for the bandwagon effect. Depending on the actual phenomenon studied, social pressure or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_cascade" rel="nofollow noreferrer">information cascades</a> make more sense as an explanation for a given instance of the bandwagon effect. At least with respect to SE voting patterns, probably the latter makes a bit more sense. The two causes are probably not mutually exclusive.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-29T13:43:33.677Z
Information cascade seems to fit exactly what I was looking for, there was the idea of having limited choice or a binary choice although I might not have expressed that clearly. Many thanks!
curious
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T20:03:19.550Z
2018-08-28T20:18:08.090Z
2018-08-28T20:18:08.090Z
got trolled too much this week
<p>I've looked at these <a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/20250/what-is-the-bias-that-arises-because-a-thing-is-way-more-common-than-the-rest">1</a>,<a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/1688/what-is-the-name-of-the-effect-whereby-socialising-in-a-group-reinforces-group-b">2</a>,<a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/8614/what-is-the-name-of-a-cognitive-bias-by-which-existing-facts-are-tailored-to-fit">3</a> and I don't think they answer my question fully.</p>

<p>Let's say it's election time and I'm on the fence about who to vote for. I see some survey on the news and seeing party A has more vote intentions, it tends to sway my decision towards party A.</p>

<p>Closer to home, I see a question or answer on SE and I may feel swayed to vote +1 or -1 if there are pre-existing votes that have been cast. </p>

<p>What would this phenomenon be called (if there is a name for it other than simple influence or conformity)? Also, can there be a bias for going against what the current trend is? </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T19:37:51.980Z
What about this one: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/18788/7001
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T19:45:37.800Z
Why call this a bias? Vote intentions and previous votes are informative. A rational being of supreme logic would ignore them only if it was certain those others didn't have independent information (even somewhat untrustworthy others are worth considering if their information is at least partly independent of yours)
steveLangsford
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T19:46:41.850Z
@ArnonWeinberg Yes some great leads there, thank you! I was wondering if there was a name for this specific phenomenon rather than the broader ideas of group mentality. The tendency to like something that has already been liked on Facebook would fall into the same idea I would think.
curious
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T19:47:42.687Z
@steveLangsford You're right, I'll edit my title. Calling it a bias was an assumption on my part and I'm not particularly well versed in psychology
curious
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-28T21:29:02.007Z
Could be “Framing effect” as well no?
Ariel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-03-13T05:50:25.220Z
A bit of late but I believe 'herding' is also suitable (though it often refers to more than one individual's behavior). By the way, those scenarios you mentioned, voting for election and SE, seem to be sequential decision making setups where the following decision makers are usually affected by the decisions made by former decision makers even decisions themselves may reveal none specific information but just present in the form of a one-off voting result (proportion or numeric) and in sequential scenarios 'information cascade' will surely fit.
Maul Seil
<decision-making>
What is the name of the phenomenon that would make me choose A over B because I was influenced by a trend?
curious
# What is the name of the phenomenon that would make me choose A over B because I was influenced by a trend?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-08-28)

I've looked at these [1](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/20250/what-is-the-bias-that-arises-because-a-thing-is-way-more-common-than-the-rest),[2](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/1688/what-is-the-name-of-the-effect-whereby-socialising-in-a-group-reinforces-group-b),[3](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/8614/what-is-the-name-of-a-cognitive-bias-by-which-existing-facts-are-tailored-to-fit) and I don't think they answer my question fully.

Let's say it's election time and I'm on the fence about who to vote for. I see some survey on the news and seeing party A has more vote intentions, it tends to sway my decision towards party A.

Closer to home, I see a question or answer on SE and I may feel swayed to vote +1 or -1 if there are pre-existing votes that have been cast.

What would this phenomenon be called (if there is a name for it other than simple influence or conformity)? Also, can there be a bias for going against what the current trend is?

**Tags:** decision-making

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What about this one: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/18788/7001  
> **username_2**: Why call this a bias? Vote intentions and previous votes are informative. A rational being of supreme logic would ignore them only if it was certain those others didn't have independent information (even somewhat untrustworthy others are worth considering if their information is at least partly independent of yours)  
> **username_0**: @ArnonWeinberg Yes some great leads there, thank you! I was wondering if there was a name for this specific phenomenon rather than the broader ideas of group mentality. The tendency to like something that has already been liked on Facebook would fall into the same idea I would think.  
> **username_0**: @username_2 You're right, I'll edit my title. Calling it a bias was an assumption on my part and I'm not particularly well versed in psychology  
> **username_3**: Could be “Framing effect” as well no?  
> **username_4**: A bit of late but I believe 'herding' is also suitable (though it often refers to more than one individual's behavior). By the way, those scenarios you mentioned, voting for election and SE, seem to be sequential decision making setups where the following decision makers are usually affected by the decisions made by former decision makers even decisions themselves may reveal none specific information but just present in the form of a one-off voting result (proportion or numeric) and in sequential scenarios 'information cascade' will surely fit.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2018-08-28. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

[Bandwagon effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwagon_effect):

> The bandwagon effect is a phenomenon whereby the rate of uptake of beliefs, ideas, fads and trends increases the more that they have already been adopted by others. In other words, the bandwagon effect is characterized by the probability of individual adoption increasing with respect to the proportion who have already done so. As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence.

And the reason why you were not completely happy with the other questions you found (mostly on social pressure) is that there's perhaps not a single source of "bias" for the bandwagon effect. Depending on the actual phenomenon studied, social pressure or [information cascades](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_cascade) make more sense as an explanation for a given instance of the bandwagon effect. At least with respect to SE voting patterns, probably the latter makes a bit more sense. The two causes are probably not mutually exclusive.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Information cascade seems to fit exactly what I was looking for, there was the idea of having limited choice or a binary choice although I might not have expressed that clearly. Many thanks!  

---

