Read the passage and answer the following questions:
It is generally seen that important decisions are taken by groups and not by individuals alone. For example, a decision had to be taken regarding corruption charges against an employee. Johnson was an employee working as an Assistant Manager in a pharma company. He joined this company in 2020 and has proven his mettle by his performance and commitment. One day he was caught red-handed by a senior official of the company while he was taking bribes from a client for some favor. This news spread like fire in the company. A high level committee consisting of 5 members was set up to look into the matter. There had been precedence when demotion was awarded as a punishment in similar cases. Initially, when the inquiry was set up, every member was of the view of downgrading his current rank. But one member shared his/her view about his termination. Over the discussions, it was found that every member developed an opinion about Johnson's termination from the services. It is a general tendency that when one's view is favoured by others, the person feels like his view is validated by the public. In this matter, the committee finally announced his termination.
The tendency 'when one's view is favoured by others, the person feels like his view is validated by the public' is known as:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Bandwagon effect
Option (1) Bandwagon effect — Correct. When you find others also favouring your view, you feel that your view is validated by the public; this is a sort of bandwagon effect. It is one of the three reasons for group polarisation, and it is what made each member of Johnson’s committee firmer in the view of termination.
Option (2) Social loafing — Incorrect. Social loafing is a reduction in individual effort when working on a collective task whose outputs are pooled. It concerns effort, not how a view gets stronger.
Option (3) Social facilitation — Incorrect. Social facilitation is the better performance of an individual in the presence of others, whose presence arouses her or him. It has nothing to do with feeling one’s view validated.
Option (4) Group polarisation — Incorrect. Group polarisation is the strengthening of the group’s initial position after discussion, so that groups take more extreme decisions than individuals alone. Feeling validated by the public is one of the reasons for polarisation, and that reason has its own name, the bandwagon effect.
Note 1: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2025 on 16-05-2025 (Slot 1) and 28-05-2025 (Slot 1).
Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 15-06-2023 (Slot 3) and 22-06-2023 (Slot 3), and in CUET (UG) 2026 on 15-05-2026 (Slot 1) and 31-05-2026 (Slot 1).
NCERT (2025-26): “Group Polarisation … This strengthening of the group’s initial position as a result of group interaction and discussion is referred to as group polarisation. This may sometimes have dangerous repercussions as groups may take extreme positions, i.e. from very weak to very strong decisions. Why does group polarisation occur? Let us take an example whether capital punishment should be there. Suppose you favour capital punishment for heinous crimes, what would happen if you were interacting with and discussing this issue with like-minded people?…” “Group Polarisation … After this interaction, your views may become stronger. This firm conviction is because of the following three reasons:
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