Bandwagon Effect
The bandwagon effect is adopting a belief, product or vote largely because you can see that lots of other people already have.
Full definition of Bandwagon Effect →:: COMPARE ::
Bandwagon effectvsConformity
The short answer
The bandwagon effect is one form of conformity, and what marks it out is the signal rather than the setting. Asch's participants were sitting among people giving wrong answers aloud. A bestseller list does the same job with nobody present at all — which makes it far easier to scale and far easier to fake.
Side by side
| Aspect | Bandwagon effect | Conformity |
|---|---|---|
| Group | Abstract | Usually present |
| Signal | Counts, charts, polls | Faces, voices |
| Scale | Unlimited | Room-sized |
| Fakeable | Easily | Harder |
What each one means
Conformity
The contrast above sets out how Conformity differs from Bandwagon Effect on the points that actually matter.