Public Beliefs About the Beliefs of the Public

1976/01/01 by James M. Fields, Howard Schuman · 5 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · Medicine · #Psychology of Social Influence #Crime, Deviance, and Social Control #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Sociology #Mental health #Library science #Public health #Research center #Media studies #Psychology #Political science #Medicine #Law #Psychiatry

paper · doi:10.1086/268330

openalex publication_date 1976/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Perceptions of the opinions of others are examined on a variety of issues using data from three sample surveys of metropolitan Detroit. A greal deal of inaccuracy in such perception is evident. Three broad tendencies or patterns can be discerned: “looking glass perceptions,” the general propensity to believe that others' opinions are the same as one's own; “conservative bias,” the belief that the population is more conservative on racial issues than it actually is; and limited response to reality constraints. The overall findings suggest that perceptions of public beliefs and attitudes are personally and socially constructed to a much larger degree than is often assumed.

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• False consensus effect [wikipedia]