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.

Q) 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:

The correct option is Bandwagon effect.

Explanation:

The passage highlights a group dynamics phenomenon where the group's initial opinions or decisions become much stronger and more extreme as a result of interaction and discussion. When you observe that other members of the group share and support your view, you experience a sense of validation. This validation encourages you and others to align even more strongly with the majority opinion.

The Bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people do something primarily because other people are doing it, or believe something because others believe it. In the context of the question, finding that others also favor your opinion against the employee validates your view, reinforcing your stance and prompting you to jump on the "bandwagon" of the dominant group opinion.

Let's briefly look at why the other options are incorrect:
- Cohesiveness: Refers to the degree of attraction, solidarity, and bonding among group members, rather than the specific validation of an individual's opinion by others.
- Auto kinetic effect: A phenomenon of visual perception where a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move. It is used in social psychology to study conformity in ambiguous situations, but it does not represent the validation of one's social opinion.
- Compliance: Involves changing one's behavior in response to a direct request or command from another person or group, even if one does not privately agree with it.