Question

Newman notices that the passenger seated across from him on the subway has his eyes closed and hasn't moved in a while. But he looks around and sees that no one else, including those passengers who were on the train when he boarded, seems too concerned about this man. He decides that this probably means there isn't an emergency and the man is not in need of help. This line of thinking epitomizes which concept?

A. stimulus overload
B. pluralistic ignorance
C. audience inhibition
D. diffusion of resposibility

Answer 1

Answer:B. pluralistic ignorance

Step-by-step explanation:

Pluralistic ignorance according to social psychology occurs when we personally reject something but publicly accept it or tag along because we inaccurately think that most people do accept or agree with it.

So this is a situation where in reality no one believes in that particular norm but all the people think the majority believes in it hence everyone end up going along with that particular thing due to that wrong notion.

Remember that one moment in a classroom when a lecture is delivering a lesson and you understand non of what he is teaching.

When a moment comes for him to ask if there are any questions , the first thing you do is to look around your classmates to see if anyone raises their hands.

If non of them raises their hands you take it as if they all understood the material so you don't consider that it is very likely that they are also afraid like you to raise their hands and ask.

So you end up assuming that you don't understand but they do understand hence you just go along with not raising your hand , this assumption about your behavior and your classmates behavior is an example of pluralistic ignorance.