Spiral of silence
Overview
The spiral of silence refers to a vicious cycle where people who feel their opinion differs from the majority hold back from speaking up out of fear of social isolation; as a result, the majority opinion stands out even more, and the minority falls even more silent. It is a theory that Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann discussed in a 1974 paper.
While the spiral keeps turning, the gap between the actual spread of opinions and the apparent spread of opinions can widen. When people with opposing views don't speak up, it looks as if everyone agrees. This appearance may combine with pluralistic ignorance and spread the illusion that "I'm the only one with a different opinion."
The spiral of silence in a question box
The spiral of silence happens in question box communities too. In a question box where the person answering has made their views clear, questions that agree with those views start to stand out. Among senders with opposing views, some feel, "There's no point sending a disagreeing opinion to this person" or "I might get attacked," and fall silent.
As a result, the person answering may come to believe, mistakenly, that "all my followers share my opinion." But followers with different opinions may simply be staying silent. The questions that reach a question box don't represent the opinions of all its followers. While the opinions of people who spoke up become visible, the opinions of those who stayed silent can't be seen from the outside.
Stopping the spiral
One example of a way to stop the spiral of silence is creating an environment where people can safely express different opinions. What the person answering can do is answer disagreeing questions with respect too. Seeing an answer that responds politely, opening with "That's a good point, even though it's a different view from mine," other senders may feel, "It's okay to send a disagreeing opinion."
On the other hand, responses such as exposing a disagreeing question to criticize it, or rejecting it with "Please don't send questions like this," may speed up the spiral. Whether diverse opinions can coexist becomes a yardstick for how healthy a question box is. A question box where everyone holds the same opinion may look peaceful at first glance, but it may be a state where the spiral of silence is complete.
A game where this term appears: Stop the Rumor