Pluralistic ignorance
Resource type
Encyclopedia Article
Title
Pluralistic ignorance
Abstract
In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but incorrectly assume that most others accept it, and therefore go along with it. This is also described as "no one believes, but everyone thinks that everyone believes." In short, pluralistic ignorance is a bias about a social group, held by that social group.
Pluralistic ignorance may help to explain the bystander effect. If no-one acts, onlookers may believe others believe action is incorrect, and may therefore themselves refrain from acting.
Encyclopedia Title
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date
9/18/16, 9:02 AM
Accessed
10/9/16, 8:57 AM
Language
en
Library Catalog
Wikipedia
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Extra
Page Version ID: 739979490
Citation
Pluralistic ignorance. (2016). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pluralistic_ignorance&oldid=739979490
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