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Agreed, + Bandwagon Effect, Tactical Voting, plus other effects?

I haven't come across a term that covers what we're talking about in full scope(?)(hence my clumsy tug of war metaphor), but that's probably because I am peripheral to game theory / not in the psychology space

(We have lots of terms for the emergent effects - Overton window, Political Polarization etc. - But possibly not for the overall phenomena of why polarization occurs?)

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Some people have zero sympathy for viewpoints that differ from their own, which leads to individual polarization. But some people have an excess of such sympathy, which can contribute to collective polarization.

They are very worried about being fair-minded. They see a vocal minority as social proof that the minority viewpoint is sincere, thoughtful and worthy of consideration. Neither is a bad assumption to start with, but it's not a great place to end the thought process.

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