Pluralistic Ignorance

Pluralistic ignorance is; a preconceived notion that each person’s private attitude, beliefs, or judgments are different from the their public behavior, which is displayed by how they act, reflecting on popular cultures  (Lambert et al, 2010), (Reiber and Garcia, 2010).

Pluralistic ignorance is something I see everyday, through many stages of life. This year, I had the privilege of doing one of my clinical placements with toddlers and children. I found that a lot of the times, if one child was doing something that looked intriguing to another child, even if both of them knew it was wrong, the other would join in. This is just a minor example of how pluralistic ignorance effects us in most stages of life.

When reading about pluralistic ignorance, I could not help but think back to my High School years. After having time to reflect on my years in high school, I realized that many of my own actions were based simply on the fact that I thought that was what I had to do to fit in. This also brings me to the term "popularity." I was fortunate to have many friends, and many opportunities in high school, but what exactly does that even mean? I believe, from my personal experience that most of my high school years, and I do not think I was the only one, were wasted striving for "popularity" even if that meant going against my own beliefs. 

When I was reading "Pluralistic Ignorance and Hooking up" by Lambert et al, 2010, I realized that sadly, pluralistic ignorance has followed us to university. It very obviously effects the hook up culture, as this study has shown that many people rate themselves as less comfortable with hooking up than their peers, but in personal experience, I've seen pluralistic ignorance take an affect on alcohol intake, drug use, and bullying.