The Aberdeen Effect has its name after a story of one person in a group suggesting a trip to Aberdeen and everybody saying yes. They arrived eight hours later, and nobody knew why they had bothered. The behaviour on display is an example of pluralistic ignorance - when one person assumes that others in a group must know something. That person subsequently conforms to their behaviour despite thinking it incorrect or pointless. An obvious everyday example is attending a meeting. Another is the embarrassing scene in which a group of people may be queuing outside of a closed-door when a single distracted person opens it and walks through it. Everybody had assumed that the others had information about the door’s state that they didn’t.