
Pluralistic ignorance occurs when a population believes that the majority has one opinion, where in reality they share similar opinions but do not say anything about them. The book gave the example of racism and segregation. When taking an anonymous survey, most whites admitted that they did not agree with the segregation laws, but they believed that most whites did so they said nothing about it. Pluralistic ignorance is a tricky thing to pin down, because most people are afraid to give an opinion that is against what they think the majority believes.
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