Pluarlistic Ignorance
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Pluralistic ignorance is the belief that one’s attitudes are different from those of other ingroup members, even though public behavior is identical (Allport, 1933). It is assumed that group members infer the group norm by observing the behavior of other group members, and then conform to the group because they wish to be seen as valued within the group ( Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986). However, in doing so, the individual makes the assumption that he or she is the only group member that has an opinion that is discrepant from the group. The result is a paradoxical situation where the group norm takes on behavioral control independent of the beliefs of group members. Thus, pluralistic ignorance is conceived as a form of false consciousness—the group norm is inconsistent with the individual opinions of group members (Allport 1933). Clearly, there is a democratic assumption here: the group norm should form as the aggregate of individual opinion.
Research on pluralistic ignorance has taken two forms. Initially, the idea was that pluralistic ignorance is the situation wherein private attitudes and public behavior are discrepant. However, other researchers (e.g., Perkins & Berkowitz, 1986) have observed that people make pluralistically ignorant judgments regardless of whether there is direct behavioral observation of group members. We will focus on the situation of alcohol consumption at the University of Princeton among undergraduate students, a situation with direct behavioral observation.
Example – Research
Prentice and Miller (1993) demonstrated pluralistic ignorance among college students in the area of alcohol consumption. Entering Princeton students were assigned to participate, during their first week on campus, in one of two sessions about alcohol use (Prentice & Miller, 1993). One included a discussion on pluralistic Ignorance. Participants were shown data about the discrepancy between students’ own comfort with drinking alcohol and their beliefs about others’ comfort with drinking alcohol, and discussed the likely consequences of the misperceptions of others’ attitudes. Participants in the control condition also discussed alcohol use, but their discussion focused on how individuals can make responsible decisions about drinking alcohol; they learned nothing about pluralistic ignorance on this issue. Four to six months after these discussions, all participants were asked to report on their alcohol consumption in the past week and in the typical week. Remarkably, dispelling pluralistic ignorance had a substantial impact on alcohol consumption: Students who had participated in the discussion about pluralistic ignorance about attitudes toward alcohol reported drinking substantially fewer drinks per week than those who had participated in the control discussion (Prentice & Miller, 1993). Follow-up analyses suggested that this occurred at least in part because students who had learned about pluralistic ignorance felt less social pressure to drink excessively (Prentice & Miller, 1993). On a campus where heavy alcohol use was the perceived norm, Prentice and Miller found that students estimated both the average student and their friends to have less discomfort with the level of alcohol consumption on campus than they reported for themselves. Furthermore, for male but not female students, they found greater consistency between respondents' comfort levels with alcohol consumption and the perceived norm and between respondents' reported drinking levels and the perceived norm at the end of the semester than at the beginning of the semester. Although correlational in nature, these results suggest that over time, male students may have changed their attitudes and behaviors to bring them more in line with the perceived norm (Prentice & Miller, 1993). Suls and Green (2001) reported similar findings with regard to the discrepancy between college students' own comfort with the amount of drinking at the university and what they estimated to be the general campus attitude.
Example – Real Life
A real life example of pluralistic Ignorance can be seen on any school campus or educational program. Most classrooms are structured as lecture halls wherein students attend class and are lectured by a professor or teacher of some sort. The teacher has credentials and knowledge that the students typically don’t have, allowing for the educational environment to be put into effect. I’m sure many of you have experienced being in a class room or seminar in which a lecturer or professor asks the class if there are any questions about the material being covered. Often the class is suddenly hit with a deafening silence, even if nobody understands the material clearly. This situation is a clear example of pluralistic ignorance where the students in the class most likely don’t understand the material , but still won’t engage in asking the professor further questions to clarify. Individual students are inhibited from raising their hands out of fear of asking a stupid question, but they interpret their classmates' identical behavior as an indication that everyone else understands the material (Miller & McFarland, 1987). In doing this, the student is actually harming themselves because they are limiting their ability to learn due to a false belief that others clearly understand the material. In reality, the other students feel the same way, however, they themselves are engaging in pluralistic ignorance as well. The student is so preoccupied with what others might think of him/her that they ignore the fact that his/her peers actually don’t understand just as much as they don’t. The silent response to the lecturer’s question becomes the norm for the class.
References
Allport, G. (1933) Institutional Behavior, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Miller, D. T. & McFarland, C. (1987). Pluralistic ignorance: When similarity is interpreted as dissimilarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53(2), 298-305.
Perkins, H.W. and Berkowitz, A.D. (1986). "Perceiving the Community Norms of Alcohol Use Among Students: Some Research Implications for Campus Alcohol Education Programming." International Journal of the Addictions, Vol. 21, Nos. 9 & 10, pp. 961-976.
Prentice, D. A. & Miller, D. T. (1993). Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: Some consequences of misperceiving the social norm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64(2), 243-256.
Suls, J. & Green, P. (2001). Pluralistic ignorance and college student perceptions of gender-specific alcohol norms. Health Psychology, 22(5), 479-486.
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