Pluralistic Ignorance among Assembled Peers

Sociologists have long been interested in pluralistic ignorance—situations where a majority of individuals assume that most of their peers think differently than themselves when, in fact, their attitudes are similar. Recently, sociologists have suggested that pluralistic ignorance is especially likely to occur when peers are gathered together and may explain why group members often refrain from discussing their ultimate concerns with each other. However, researchers have not indicated what factors besides physical proximity might create pluralistic ignorance. Nor have they employed methods that can specify how causal factors combine to produce multiple routes to pluralistic ignorance. To remedy this situation, this article suggests several factors that may make others' opinions more or less transparent. It also proposes an analytical strategy that can identify which combinations of these factors are associated with misperceptions and illustrates how it might be applied. Implications of this study for future research are discussed.