Jump on the bandwagon.

The bandwagon effect can be seen at almost all levels of human interaction. It is the reliance upon the behavior or beliefs of those around—and similar—to you as a guide to what is correct to do or believe.

Herd it through the grapevine.

Often pejoratively called “herd behavior,” this effect describes how individuals can follow the crowd without examining the merits of the situation. It is often encountered in speculative bubbles, sporting events, trends and fads, mob violence, persecution of minorities, and political or religious zealotry.

Are you in?

The probability of any individual adopting a belief increases with the proportion that have already done so—as more people believe in something, others tend to hop on the bandwagon (inertia trap*). But a belief that is widely held is not necessarily a guarantee that the belief is correct. Known as an argumentum ad populum, this is a red herring that alleges, “If many believe it is so, then it is so.” After all, since 88 percent of the people polled believed in UFOs, they must exist…

Of course, not all herd behavior is bad. If you’re at a dinner party and don’t know what fork to use on the course just served, it’s a good idea to look at the other diners for a clue. At best, no one will notice that you followed her example; at worst, there will be at least one other person who looks stupid.

School’s in session.

Keeping an eye on what the next guy is doing is the secret to survival for many fish and Ichthyologists tell us that schooling is one of the primary ways smaller fishes defend themselves from predators. In a school, each fish near the edge serves as a lookout. Others inside the school watch their neighbor’s “lateral line,” a system of specialized receptors along the sides of the body. These receptors detect minute changes in water pressure when another nearby fish suddenly changes speed or direction. Thus, all of the fish in a school can virtually react simultaneously to the sudden movement of a potential predator lurking nearby.

Wall Street professionals mimic this schooling behavior. Like nervous sardines, they bid up prices based on what others are doing. Without these market bubbles, however, Wall Street tunas would starve. Sure they would make solid salaries, but not bonuses in the millions of dollars a year. Since this would doom their species, there is a powerful incentive for them to feed off your greed. Trump the temptation to follow the herd and you’ll be one hoof ahead of the other buffalo, Bill.

* Questionable beliefs can “trap” our better judgment, leading to poor decisions and unintended consequences. In the inertia trap, we often do and believe things because many other people do and believe the same things. Learn more about this, and other traps, in the Young Person’s Guide to Wisdom, Power, and Life Success.

Image credit: “School of big eye scad” by Steve Dunleavy (2010), licensed/modified (color added) under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0, by permission of copyright holder.