spiral of silence

The spiral of silence theory of media effects posits that people feel increasing pressure to not voice their views when they think they're in the minority. The scholar who developed the theory, Noelle-Neumann, defines public opinion as the attitudes that people feel they can express in public without isolating themselves. She suggests that people have a sixth sense or a quasi-statistical organ that provides trustworthy information about what a society in general is thinking and feeling.

Solomon Asch is the researcher whose group conformity studies with different length lines provides support for the notion of a spiral of silence. Noelle-Neumann recommends that two questions should be asked to sample an individual's perception of the climate of opinion: questions about the present climate and future forecast. Pluralistic ignorance refers to the mistaken assumption that everyone thinks like us.

Still, some people will speak out even when they think they're in the minority. For example, research has found that middle- and upper-class people find it easier to speak out. The most important factor that determines if people will voice their own opinion is whether they are in the majority or minority. Hard-core nonconformists are the vocal minority of outspoken believers who continue to speak out in defiance of threats of isolation because they have nothing to lose. Dietram Scheufele found contemporary support for the spiral of silence by asking people their opinion toward and willingness to speak out about biotechnology. However, the spiral of silence theory has been criticized because of an over-reliance on hypothetical scenarios.

In spite of its shortcomings, the spiral of silence provides insight into why people speak out or are silent. For example, consider all the people who remained silent before the Iraq war--when being against the war put people in the minority--who now have spoken out when public opinion changed.

~ Professor Cyborg