The German scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann is the founder of the theory of the spiral of silence. She opposed the paradigm of the limited effects of the media. People fear social isolation, so they constantly try to assess and observe the opinions of others. This gives them an idea of the opinion climate. This article describes the spiral of silence theory, its principles and hypotheses.
The spiral of silence theory and the role of the opinions of others
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann is the founder of the silence spiral theory. She opposed the paradigm of limited effects. Through cascading communication processes, information from the media will reach everyone, making the media’s influence great.
Principles of the silent spiral theory
According to Noelle-Neuman, people are irrational creatures who rely on their feelings. The power of the media is especially great if the medium type makes selective use difficult. This is especially true for television. The influence of the media is also reprehensible. Another starting point is that people are afraid of social isolation. Out of fear of isolation, there is a growing tendency to conform to prevailing views.
Description of the spiral of silence theory
There are three factors that determine the functioning of the media and are responsible for its great influence, namely:
- Cumulation. Media messages are repeated over and over again. The impressions they leave behind pile up. Selective perception is made difficult by the repetitions.
- Consonance (sounding together). The enormous degree of consonance in the media makes selective use difficult and strengthens the power of the media. This applies to both the receivers (fear of social isolation) and the senders. Broadcasters also take public opinion into account. This is called “pack journalism”; or agreement in journalistic reporting.
- Publicity. Because the media operate in the open and reach an increasing number of people, they can initiate and fuel a spiral of silence.
Cumulation, consonance and publicity
According to Noelle-Neuman, the influence of the mass media on opinion formation is greater as cumulation, consonance and publicity become more prominent. A combination of the factors appears to be particularly effective.
Opinion climate
According to Noelle-Neuman, people have a social skin to keep an eye on the environment and the opinion climate. They can obtain information about the opinion climate through:
- Media reporting
- Personal observations, for example through interpersonal communication.
There is a double opinion climate if the image presented by the media differs from personal observations.
Spiral of silence explanation
Anyone who thinks that their opinion is in line with prevailing views or trends in public opinion will be more inclined to make that opinion public than those who are not convinced of this. Anyone who thinks that their opinion belongs to a minority will be more likely to remain silent.
The hard core
Over time, only a few people will continue to express an opinion that goes against the prevailing opinion. These people form the hard core . They can initiate a new spiral process.
Hypotheses spiral of silence theory
Noelle-Neuman has formulated a number of hypotheses to test her silence spiral theory. These hypotheses concern the interaction between the individual and the environment during the process of public opinion formation.
- All individuals make a frequency distribution of the opinions in their environment
- The willingness to express one’s own opinion depends on the individual assessment of the frequency distribution and the expected direction of development of that distribution
- If the assessment of the frequency distribution deviates from the actual distribution, this is due to the fact that the overestimated opinion is made more public.
- The assessment of the frequency distribution of opinions at a certain point in time and the expected distribution in the future have a positive correlation.
- In the event of a discrepancy between the assessment and the expected developments in the frequency distribution of opinions, the latter determines whether people will speak or remain silent.