Pluralistic Ignorance — a Definition
How many times have the scenarios below happened to you? Have you ever wondered why so many people seem to turn the other way in spite of the audaciously rude behavior of our current POTUS? Or, why people you know who are professing Christians brush off his rude and racist remarks in a moment of pretended grace with the well-meaning but totally uninformed, “Well, nobody’s perfect,” or, “Well, the economy is doing so well!”
Is it possible individuals are secretly horrified but the sweep of their “tribe” sentiments have them concluding that nobody else seems to be horrified so I guess I am wrong?
Pluralistic ignorance is an explanation for why people of conviction don’t live by their own values. Who wants to stand out from the crowd when it can put one at risk of being shamed, discredited, ostracized? It takes a lot of courage to stand up or out when you feel like you will be the only one. Yet our heroes of the faith, science and of democracy, are those who have indeed done just that.
See below this article for examples of such heroes.
Pluralistic ignorance occurs when people erroneously infer that they feel differently from their peers, even though they are behaving similarly. As one example, imagine the following scenario: You are sitting in a large lecture hall listening to an especially complicated lecture. After many minutes of incomprehensible material, the lecturer pauses and asks if there are any questions. No hands go up. You look around the room. Could these people really understand what the lecturer is talking about?
You yourself are completely lost. Your fear of looking stupid keeps you from raising your hand, but as you look around the room at your impassive classmates, you interpret their similar behavior differently: You take their failure to raise their hands as a sign that they understand the lecture, that they genuinely have no questions. These different assumptions you make about the causes of your own behavior and the causes of your classmates’ behavior constitute pluralistic ignorance. (source unknown)
Pluralistic Ignorance
In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance is a situation in which a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but go along with it because they assume, incorrectly, that mostaccept it.[1] 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 the members of that social group.[2][3]Pluralistic ignorance may help to explain the bystander effect.[4] If no-one acts, onlookers may believe others believe action is incorrect, and may therefore themselves refrain from acting.
Heroes of Faith, Science, and Democracy
Here are a few examples of ordinary people who have stood up for faith, science or democracy that we honor as heroes. Even if you were not willing to stand up the way these folks have, what could you do?
Mother Theresa is credited with saying, “We can do no great things – only small things with great love …” What will you do?
Billy Graham, Corrie Ten Boom, John Wycliffe, Mother Theresa, Watchman Nee, Budda, Mohammed, Joni Eareckson Tada…
Louis Pasteur, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Galileo Galilei, Ada Lovelace, Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, Bill Nye…
Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Greta Thurnberg, Thomas Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King…
We all need inspiration. These are just a few — founders and modern voices! Let’s make an exhaustive list!
Who are Your Heroes and Why?
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