Exploring the Forms of Self‐Censorship: On the Spiral of Silence and the Use of Opinion Expression Avoidance Strategies

In almost all studies investigating spiral of silence theory, the outcome variable has been a person’s reported willingness to express his or her opinion or engage others in a conversation. Research to date is largely silent on strategies that people might use to avoid speaking their opinion when it is requested by an audience hostile to that opinion. Participants in this study were asked how they would respond to a request for their opinion by a person who would disagree. Responses revealed a variety of different strategies people report they would use to censor their own opinion expression, such as expressing indifference or ambivalence, trying to change the subject, or reflecting the question back without answering it. An experimental manipulation of the climate of opinion revealed that a hostile opinion climate prompted greater use of expression avoidance strategies than a friendly climate, and some topics of conversation prompted more opinion expression avoidance independent of the climate of opinion.

[1]  Kurt Neuwirth,et al.  Perceptions of Opinion “Climates” and Willingness to Discuss the Issue of Abortion , 1990 .

[2]  Michael McDevitt,et al.  Spiral of Moderation: Opinion Expression in Computer-Mediated Discussion , 2003 .

[3]  Blake M. McKimmie,et al.  On being loud and proud: non-conformity and counter-conformity to group norms. , 2003, The British journal of social psychology.

[4]  James Shanahan,et al.  Talking on ‘Sunshine in North Korea’: A Test of the Spiral of Silence as a Theory of Powerful Mass Media , 2004 .

[5]  Patricia Moy,et al.  TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE: A CONCEPTUAL REVIEW AND EMPIRICAL OUTLOOK , 2000 .

[6]  H. Giles,et al.  The New Handbook of Language and Social Psychology , 2001 .

[7]  Dietram A. Scheufele.  Deliberation or dispute? An exploratory study examining dimensions of public opinion expression , 1999 .

[8]  Stephen D. Perry,et al.  Inhibiting Speech through Exemplar Distribution: Can We Predict a Spiral of Silence? , 2000 .

[9]  T. Gilovich,et al.  How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life , 1991 .

[10]  Carroll J. Glynn,et al.  Perceived Support for One's Opinions and Willingness to Speak Out: A Meta-Analysis of Survey Studies on the 'Spiral of Silence' , 1997 .

[11]  Jacob Shamir.  Speaking Up and Silencing Out in Face of a Changing Climate of Opinion , 1997 .

[12]  James Shanahan,et al.  Real Talk , 2001, Commun. Res..

[13]  William J. Gonzenbach,et al.  Homosexuals and the Military: An Analysis of the Spiral of Silence , 1999 .

[14]  M. Baldassare,et al.  Measures of Attitude Strength as Predictors of Willingness to Speak to the Media , 1996 .

[15]  Charles T. Salmon,et al.  Community Size, Perceptions of Majority Opinion, and Opinion Expression , 2020, Public Relations Research Annual.

[16]  Kurt Neuwirth,et al.  TESTING THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE MODEL: THE CASE OF MEXICO , 2000 .

[17]  Andrej Pinter,et al.  From Social Perception to Public Expression of Opinion: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach to the Spiral of Silence , 2002 .

[18]  E. Goffman.  Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-To-Face Behavior , 1967 .

[19]  David Domke,et al.  The Spiral of Silence and Public Opinion on Affirmative Action , 2001 .

[20]  Serge Moscovici.  Silent Majorities and Loud Minorities , 1991 .

[21]  J. S. Long,et al.  Regression Models for Categorical and Limited Dependent Variables , 1997 .

[22]  Jack M. McLeod,et al.  Public Opinion du Jour: An Examination of the Spiral of Silence , 1984 .

[23]  Dominic L. Lasorsa,et al.  Political Outspokenness: Factors Working against the Spiral of Silence , 1991 .

[24]  M. M. Ferree,et al.  Zeitgeist as an Empirical Phenomenon@@@The Spiral of Silence: Public Opinion--Our Social Skin. , 1985 .

[25]  H. Oshagan.  REFERENCE GROUP INFLUENCE ON OPINION EXPRESSION , 1996 .

[26]  Robert L. Stevenson,et al.  Children with AIDS Attending Public School: An Analysis of the Spiral of Silence , 1994 .

[27]  Diana C. Mutz.  THE INFLUENCE OF PERCEPTIONS OF MEDIA INFLUENCE: THIRD PERSON EFFECTS AND THE PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF OPINIONS* , 1989 .

[28]  Daniel G. McDonald,et al.  The Spiral of Silence in the 1948 Presidential Election , 2001, Commun. Res..

[29]  Benjamin H. Detenber,et al.  Individual‐level Predictors of Public Outspokenness: A Test of the Spiral of Silence Theory in Singapore , 2002 .

[30]  E. Noelle-Neumann.  The Spiral of Silence A Theory of Public Opinion , 1974 .

[31]  Carolyn A. Lin,et al.  Willingness to Discuss “Official English”: A Test of Three Communities , 1994 .

[32]  E. Schegloff,et al.  A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation , 1974 .

[33]  Keith R. Sanders.  Political communication yearbook , 1985 .

[34]  Vincent Price,et al.  Opinion Spirals, Silent and Otherwise , 1990 .

[35]  G. Leech.  Principles of pragmatics , 1983 .

[36]  M. Salwen,et al.  Support for radio Marti among Miami's Cubans and non-Cubans , 1989 .

[37]  Carroll J. Glynn,et al.  REFERENCE GROUPS, OPINION INTENSITY, AND PUBLIC OPINION EXPRESSION , 1997 .

[38]  Andrew F. Hayes,et al.  Statistical Methods for Communication Science , 2005 .

[39]  Carolyn A. Lin,et al.  Predicting the spiral of silence on a controversial public issue , 1997 .

[40]  J. David Kennamer,et al.  Self-Serving Biases in Perceiving the Opinions of Others , 1990 .

[41]  Mark Baldassare,et al.  POPULARITY IN A FREEFALL: MEASURING A SPIRAL OF SILENCE AT THE END OF THE BUSH PRESIDENCY , 1994 .

[42]  Penelope Brown,et al.  Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage , 1989 .

[43]  James Shanahan,et al.  VALIDATING THE WILLINGNESS TO SELF-CENSOR SCALE: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE EFFECT OF THE CLIMATE OF OPINION ON OPINION EXPRESSION , 2005 .

[44]  A. Buss,et al.  Shyness and sociability. , 1981 .