Universität Tübingen
I Disagree With you – Should I say Something? The Impact of the Prevailing Opinion on Opinion Expression
Abstract
Sharing opinions, especially those that are not mainstream (e.g., deviant opinions), is of enormous value: deviant opinions can influence situations, enhance decisions or even initiate social change. The question of whether opinions are expressed depends among others on the prevailing opinion of others. Some literature suggests that opinions not in line with the prevailing majority opinion in society (e.g., a minority opinion) are expressed less (Glynn et al., 1997; Noelle-Neumann, 2001) due to fear of backlash from others (Ho & McLeod, 2008; Neubaum & Krämer, 2018). Another research strand found an even larger but similar effect: The likelihood of expressing one’s own opinion decreases when facing interaction partners opposing this opinion (Asch, 1956; Stasser, 1992; Wittenbaum & Bowman, 2005). This is amplified when expressing opinions in public and not private (Kelman, 2017; Maass & Clark, 1983). Last but not least, however, there is also literature that found the meaningful effect that deviant opinions are expressed more likely (Hornsey et al., 2003; Porten-Cheé & Eilders, 2015). So far, research lacked to combine the two strands of research which found a lower likelihood to speak when deviating from the prevailing opinion. As a result, it remains unclear whether deviant opinions are (not) expressed only in potentially conflictual interactions, or whether it is in fact the majority opinion that matters. It also remains unclear in previous research whether deviant expressions of opinion are influenced by different contexts. Or more precisely, whether opinion expression in non-interactive contexts without direct responses from others (e.g., evaluation portals) also decreases the likelihood of expressing deviant opinions. This dissertation, therefore, aimed to provide insight into different and heterogeneous paradigms and contexts (e.g., conversations, rating portals) in which the two relevant aspects of prevailing opinion (majority opinion and confronted opinion) on opinion expression have been investigated. To increase the external validity of the results, the expression of opinion inside and outside the laboratory was examined for this purpose. A total of eight studies with Ntotal = 1870 were conducted for this purpose. In line with previous research, the present results indicate that the majority opinion is not as relevant as the faced opinion. Further, more fear of a confrontation was perceived when one’s opinion was not in line with the prevailing opinion (e.g., holding a minority or opposing opinion) and this, in turn, diminished opinion expression. Moreover, based on the findings, it can be assumed that other aspects like an ongoing conversation or the lack of fear of backlash from others might increase the likelihood of expressing a (deviant) opinion. This yields in relevant aspects that should be considered in future research.
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author
-
- Zapf, Birka
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Identifier
- hdl:10900/119134