Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow:-
Just as individuals compare themselves with others in terms of similarities and differences with respect to what they have and what others have, individuals also compare the group they belong to with groups of which they are not a member. It has been found that groups are more likely to take extreme decisions than individuals alone. Suppose there is an employee who has been caught taking a bribe or engaging in some other unethical act. His/her colleagues are asked to decide what punishment he/she should be given. They may let him/her go scot-free or decide to terminate his/her services instead of imposing a punishment which may commensurate with the unethical act he/she had engaged in. Whatever the initial position in the group, this position becomes much stronger as a result of discussions and interaction in the group.
When you find others also favouring your opinion against the employee, who was caught taking a bribe, you feel that your view is being validated by the public. This phenomenon is called:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Bandwagon effect
Option (1) Cohesiveness — Incorrect. Cohesiveness is the togetherness or mutual attraction among members of a group, the team spirit or ‘we feeling’. It describes the bond of a group, not the feeling that one’s own opinion is confirmed by others.
Option (2) Autokinetic effect — Incorrect. It comes from Sherif’s experiments on conformity. Participants in a dark room watched a point of light, which seems to move, and estimated how far it moved; after hearing the group’s average, they changed their own estimates towards it. It shows how a group forms its norms, not how a view already held feels validated.
Option (3) Compliance — Incorrect. Compliance is behaving in response to a request from another person or group even in the absence of a norm, as when we end up buying what a salesperson at the door wanted to sell. In the question nobody requests anything; others only share your opinion.
Option (4) Bandwagon effect — Correct. When you find others also favouring your view, you feel that this view is validated by the public. This is a sort of bandwagon effect, and it is one of the three reasons for group polarisation: the support of others makes the colleagues’ view against the employee firmer.
Note 1: The concepts in Options (2) and (3), ‘autokinetic effect’ and ‘compliance’, are not in the NCERT book (2023-24), which NTA followed in 2025, and not in NCERT (2025-26) either; they were in the pre-rationalised NCERT and are explained here for the benefit of the students.
Note 2: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2025 on 20-05-2025 (Slot 1) and 28-05-2025 (Slot 1).
Note 3: 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): “Nature and Formation of Groups … Cohesiveness refers to togetherness, binding, or mutual attraction among group members. As the group becomes more cohesive, group members start to think, feel and act as a social unit, and less like isolated individuals. Members of a highly cohesive group have a greater desire to remain in the group in comparison to those who belong to low cohesive groups. Cohesiveness refers to the team spirit or ‘we feeling’ or a sense of belongingness to the group.…” “Group Polarisation … Suppose you favour capital punishment for heinous crimes, what would happen if you were interacting with and discussing this issue with like-minded people? After this interaction, your views may become stronger. This firm conviction is because of the following three reasons:
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