Pinker 1 - Pluralistic Ignorance

This is a key concept: pluralistic ignorance is a situation where a majority of group members privately reject a norm, but assume incorrectly that most others accept it, therefore in turn going along with it. Societies change, ideas change yet sometimes norms are resistant. For instance, back in the 60s in the American south, 61% of the people believed that the majority were in favour of segregation, when in fact the figure was only 32%! (Mc Raney 2013 - p. 166) Things had changed, yet few people said anything for fear of offending (what they thought was) the majority. We notice the same phenomenon everywhere from political parties to Facebook group pages. Quite often a vociferous minority appoints itself as ’guardians’ of certain values (e.g. McCarthyism in the US) and woe betide anyone who dares speak out against the sacred norm! The big Q is: how are dissenters treated? Are they encouraged, tolerated or burnt at the stake? [NB: I do not own the copyright to this video clip. I have u