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Why is the Climate Majority Silent?
Blame pluralistic ignorance — and college students
Researchers tend to use the resources that are closest to hand. This means that research psychologists, who tend to be employed by colleges, do a disproportionate amount of their work on the minds of the thousands of students who surround them. It makes sense — the students are right there, and their participation can usually be purchased with pizza.
As a consequence, we know a great deal about the psychology of college students. And one thing we see repeated over and over in the research is that they misperceive the beliefs and actions of their peers.
For example, the average college student believes that they drink less than the norm — they assume everybody else is out there consuming alcohol at a much higher rate than they actually are. A student is also likely to overestimate the degree to which others cheat on assignments and underestimate the degree to which their peers study for exams. Student-athletes tend to believe that other athletes aren’t as invested in academics as they are. The average student also believes that most other students are more likely to shoplift and are richer than they really are.
These mistaken beliefs can have perverse effects. If you mistakenly think that everybody else is out there partying…
