Smartly following others: Majority influence depends on how the majority behavior is formed

Abstract

Individuals tend to follow choices and behaviors that are common among others, indicating majority influence. Nevertheless, majority behaviors that appear to be consistent can be generated by different factors during the decision-making process; hence, the current study addressed whether people consider the source of majority behavior and follow the majority differently when that behavior is formed under different choice conditions. The participants were asked to select a safe exit after observing others' choices in simulated fire escape scenes, and their probability of adopting the majority choice was tested when all or some of the other persons were free or constrained to choose an exit for escaping under different sizes of majority. The results showed that people are more likely to follow the majority's choice when faced with available options than when constrained to make a common choice, and an increase in majority size leads to an increase in majority influence only when the majority behavior is formed under free choice. Importantly, when the majority behavior is generated by a computer algorithm, the majority influence is not affected by the availability of options, ruling out nonsocial differences as contributors to source-dependent majority influence. These findings indicate that people do not simply engage in any form of majority behavior at face value but rather distinguish between different types of majority behavior while following the majority. This finding highlights the fact that people account for rational factors and seek to maximize information gains when following the majority.