THEEffect Bandwagon, better known popularly as "bandwagon effect”Refers to the tendency of people to assume certain beliefs and behaviors simply because a significant number of other people do. It consists in accepting and assuming some behavioral and thinking patterns developed by the majority without pausing to examine or evaluate their meaning, reliability or relationship with our needs and interests.
The origins of the definition "Bandwagon Effect" are very curious and date back to 1848. On that date Dan Rice, a clown who worked in a circus, used his bandwagon to attract people's attention in Zachary Taylor's political campaign; to the same extent that this solution proved effective, more and more political figures wanted to sit on this bandwagon, in the hope of having some success too. In 1900 the "Bandwagons" or wagons, had already become an icon of presidential campaigns and the phrase had already spread: "get on the cart", in the most negative sense of the term. The Bandwagon Effect confirms that almost everything in the behavior of the masses depends on a question of numbers, while the more people behave or accept a belief, the easier it will be for other people to join "getting on the bandwagon" to this new trend. However, it doesn't all come down to numbers alone, as the perception of satisfaction, the prospect of subsequent success and pleasure is also required. Evidently, if we notice that people do not enjoy or benefit from their beliefs or behaviors, we will hardly be interested in their way of acting or thinking. Of course, the Bandwagon Effect has a limited duration, usually because people tend to abandon the "wagon of the mass" when they realize the discrepancy with their lifestyle or because they realize that in this way they will not be able to realize their expectations. People who wish to unleash the Bandwagon Effect know very well that the sense of belonging or the desire to belong must first be stimulated. Many people dress and behave in the fashion simply because they belong to a certain social group or because they wish to join it in order to acquire some benefits (money, success, power, fame). Thus, the first step to generate the Bandwagon Effect consists in showing that a certain social group (generally a very specific target) derives great pleasure from using a certain product that you want to advertise (the product can also be a concept , an idea, a behavior). Obviously, the Bandwagon Effect is very useful for politicians and advertisers. The causes of this phenomenon are intertwined, one could refer to our need to belong to a certain group of people and share their same values ​​and lifestyle, to the tendency to assume as certain and fair everything that the masses or even do. we could take up Eric Fromm's idea that human beings are simply afraid of feeling alone. However, the Bandwagon Effect also shows us the more conscious aspect that the body takes in opportunism (when we take the opinion of others only to obtain benefits) or in social apathy (when we do not assume our responsibilities and we simply let the others, the mass, decide). There are some specialists such as Gavious and Mizrahi, who have come up with a complex mathematical formula according to which the appearance and decline of the Bandwagon Effect itself could be predicted. However, in addition to the possible sociological or mathematical explanations, I believe that each individual has a different reason for joining the opinions or behaviors of the mass. Summarizing the Bandwagon Effect in a single cause would mean evaluating it from a unilateral and reductionist point of view. In a world where every day we engage in more and more extreme and generalized behaviors and join public opinion that is deliberately manipulated, probably the smartest option would be to look inside ourselves and make sure we don't get involved in this phenomenon. How?
