Pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which a minority position on a given topic is wrongly perceived to be the majority position.

What is Pluralistic Ignorance?

Pluralistic ignorance is a psychological phenomenon where individuals incorrectly assume that the majority of others in a group hold different beliefs, attitudes or behaviors than they actually do. People in the group privately reject or disagree with the perceived norm, but mistakenly believe that most others accept it. This leads to a situation where the majority of individuals privately reject something, while still acting as if they accept it.

Examples of Pluralistic Ignorance

• In a college dorm, many students may privately disapprove of binge drinking, but assume most others think it is fun, so they don’t want to spoil the “tradition” or appear to be “boring types” that dampen the mood. This leads to a culture of heavy drinking that most students don’t actually support.
• In a workplace, employees may privately disagree with a company policy, but assume their coworkers support it. This prevents employees from voicing dissent or pushing for change.
• In a social group, members may privately find a certain behavior or attitude unacceptable, but assume the rest of the group finds it acceptable. This leads to the behavior continuing unchallenged.

Causes and Consequences

Pluralistic ignorance often arises from a lack of communication about private beliefs.

People make assumptions about others’ opinions based on their public actions, without realizing others are doing the same.

This leads to the perpetuation of behaviors, attitudes or beliefs that the majority of the group privately rejects.

Overcoming pluralistic ignorance requires open discussion to reveal the true distribution of opinions within the group.