1991/03/01 by Dominic L. Lasorsa · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Social Media and Politics #Media Studies and Communication #Rhetoric and Communication Studies #Politics #Silence #Argument (complex analysis) #Public opinion #Perception #Certainty #Face (sociological concept) #Sociology #Political science #Spiral (railway) #Social psychology #Psychology #Political economy #Law #Aesthetics #Social science #Epistemology #Art #Philosophy
paper · doi:10.1177/107769909106800114
openalex publication_date 1991/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Tested here is the argument that political outspokenness is affected not only by one's perception of the climate of opinion and one's gender, age, education and income, as Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann argues, but also by one's interest in politics and level of self-efficacy, the obtrusiveness of the issue, extent of media use, and by certainty of views held. A 1987 survey of 624 individuals in Austin, Texas, suggests that people may not be as helpless in the face of public opinion as Noelle-Neumann's “Spiral of Silence” theory would hold, and that there are certain conditions under which it is possible to buck the spiral to express opinions.