When a person finds others also favoring capital punishment, they feel that this view is validated by the public. This phenomenon is known as _________.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Bandwagon Effect
Option (1) 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 (2) 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 (3) Groupthink — Incorrect. In groupthink, members of a cohesive group suppress doubts to keep an appearance of consensus, and the group makes uncritical decisions. The question describes one person’s view gaining strength from public support, not a group silencing dissent.
Option (4) Bandwagon Effect — Correct. When you find others also favouring capital punishment, you feel that this view is validated by the public; this is a sort of bandwagon effect. It is one of the three reasons for group polarisation, the tendency of groups to take more extreme decisions than individuals alone.
Note 1: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 15-05-2026 (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) 2025 on 16-05-2025 (Slot 1), 20-05-2025 (Slot 1) and 28-05-2025 (Slot 1).
NCERT (2025-26): “Group Polarisation … After this interaction, your views may become stronger. This firm conviction is because of the following three reasons:
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