Spiral of Silence

The Spiral of Silence Theory was first proposed in 1984 by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann. Noelle-Neumann propsed this theory in part to explain why Germans supported the political positions they did in the 1930-40s despite it leading to national embarrassment.

The theory claims that people are less likely to state their opinions if they believe their opinions are in the minority. It is based of the premises that: people can determine popular opinion without access to polls, people have a fear of isolation and have an understanding of what behavior will lead to isolation, and people are reluctant to express their views if they believe them to be in the minority out of fear of isolation.

This is where it comes to the "spiral" part. If people don't speak up on their perceived minority opinions, others sharing their beliefs will be less likely to speak up because they believe their beliefs to be in the minority. This creates a spiral effect, where less and less people are willing to speak up because no one is speaking up. Weird sort of paradox, isn't it?