Pluralistic Ignorance
A situation in which most members of a group privately reject a norm but go along with it because each one wrongly believes that most of the others accept it.
- Ex: Nobody in a lecture asks a question, because each student thinks everyone else understood.
- Ex: A group of friends keeps going to a bar none of them likes, because each one thinks the others like it.
- Ex: A team stays late every night because each person thinks the others expect it.
Last updated: September 27, 2026 at 8:21 PM