350 - Pluralistic Ignorance
from You Are Not So Smart Hosted by You Are Not So Smart
There are several ways to define pluralistic ignorance, and that’s because it’s kind of a brain twister when you try to put it into words. Strange and harmful behavior can follow from the fact that, on certain issues, most people believe that most people believe what, in truth, few people believe. Or put another way, pluralistic ignorance is the erroneous belief that the majority is acting in a way that matches its internal philosophies, and that you are one of a small number of people who feel differently, when in reality the majority agrees with you on the inside but is afraid to admit it outright or imply such through its behavior. Everyone in a group, at the same time, gets stuck following a norm that no one wants to follow, because everyone is carrying a shared, false belief about everyone else’s unshared true beliefs. Deborah Prentice’s Website Robb Willer’s Website Robb Willer’s Twitter How Minds Change David McRaney’s Twitter YANSS Twitter Show Notes Newsletter
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We explore why strange and harmful behavior can follow from the fact that, on certain issues, most people believe that most people believe what, in truth, few people believe.
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