I think most people figure they’ll clap until the applause dies down. But if everyone were to think like that we would clap forever. How does the audience hive mind, for lack of a better term, stop the applause?
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Some people determine length of clap based on how long they feel is a conventionally good length of time to clap, or the length of time that they feel like clapping. Like if they really like it, they’ll clap a long time, and if they are only oK about it, they’ll clap for a shorter length of time. Others will clap until they feel the clapping is dying down. Once the people who clap based on their feelings begin to stop clapping, the clapping will die down and then the people who clap based on following the lead of other people, will stop clapping. eventually the clapping will stop.
Of course, sometimes there are rules for how long to clap. These might take the form of people looking to someone of high status in the audience and doing what they do. Like if the king claps a long time, others clap as well. If the king gives a standing ovation, everyone else stands. and then there’s Josef Stalin and clapping, where clapping could be a matter literally of life or death: [https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trumps-very-soviet-fixation-on-applause](https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/donald-trumps-very-soviet-fixation-on-applause)
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