<p>Today I read a paper recently written by <a href="http://davidyyang.com/pdfs/misperception_draft.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bursztyn, 2021</a> saying that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The origin, persistence, and rigidity of misperceptions about others
can in principle be explained by different conceptual frameworks, such
as stereotyping (e.g., Bordalo et al. 2016), motivated reasoning
(e.g., Benabou and Tirole 2016), and <strong>pluralistic ignorance</strong> (e.g.,
Kuran 1997; Bursztyn, Egorov and Fiorin 2020; Bursztyn, Gonz´alez and
Yanagizawa-Drott 2020)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From what I understand, <strong>pluralistic ignorance</strong> is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the situation in which almost all members of a group privately reject
group norms, yet believe that virtually all other group members accept
them</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, I still not yet got the idea of this behaviour, could you give me an example in economic or finance to understand it more?</p>
<p>Update: Adding a great explaination of &quot;<a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01508/full" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pluralistic ignorance</a>&quot; as suggested by @Lason</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The term “pluralistic ignorance” was coined to describe the situation
in which almost all members of a group privately reject group norms,
yet believe that virtually all other group members accept them (Katz
and Allport, 1931). Under such situations, individuals predict that
they would lose social standing if they behaved as they wished.
Behaving against the group norm could result in negative reactions
from other ingroup members. Therefore, people are likely to follow
perceived group norms to maintain positive impressions in their
groups, even when they do not support the norms (Miller and McFarland,
1987; Miller and Prentice, 1994; Prentice and Miller, 1996; Geiger and
Swim, 2016). In line with this idea, in situations of pluralistic
ignorance, some people even actively enforce the perceived norms
(i.e., publicly criticizing a “misfit” into accepting the norm),
although they privately disapprove of the norms (Willer et al., 2009).
Consequently, public behaviors of groups as a whole do not coincide
with the majority of group members' private preferences under
circumstances of pluralistic ignorance. Thus, the situation of
pluralistic ignorance is well represented in the following sentence:
“No one believes, but everyone believes that everyone else believes”
(Krech and Crutchfield, 1948).</p>
</blockquote>

<behavioral-economics>
Is there any example for "pluralistic ignorance" in economics?
Phil Nguyen
# Is there any example for "pluralistic ignorance" in economics?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-23)

Today I read a paper recently written by [Bursztyn, 2021](http://davidyyang.com/pdfs/misperception_draft.pdf) saying that

> The origin, persistence, and rigidity of misperceptions about others
> can in principle be explained by different conceptual frameworks, such
> as stereotyping (e.g., Bordalo et al. 2016), motivated reasoning
> (e.g., Benabou and Tirole 2016), and **pluralistic ignorance** (e.g.,
> Kuran 1997; Bursztyn, Egorov and Fiorin 2020; Bursztyn, Gonz´alez and
> Yanagizawa-Drott 2020)

From what I understand, **pluralistic ignorance** is

> the situation in which almost all members of a group privately reject
> group norms, yet believe that virtually all other group members accept
> them

However, I still not yet got the idea of this behaviour, could you give me an example in economic or finance to understand it more?

Update: Adding a great explaination of "[pluralistic ignorance](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01508/full)" as suggested by @Lason

> The term “pluralistic ignorance” was coined to describe the situation
> in which almost all members of a group privately reject group norms,
> yet believe that virtually all other group members accept them (Katz
> and Allport, 1931). Under such situations, individuals predict that
> they would lose social standing if they behaved as they wished.
> Behaving against the group norm could result in negative reactions
> from other ingroup members. Therefore, people are likely to follow
> perceived group norms to maintain positive impressions in their
> groups, even when they do not support the norms (Miller and McFarland,
> 1987; Miller and Prentice, 1994; Prentice and Miller, 1996; Geiger and
> Swim, 2016). In line with this idea, in situations of pluralistic
> ignorance, some people even actively enforce the perceived norms
> (i.e., publicly criticizing a “misfit” into accepting the norm),
> although they privately disapprove of the norms (Willer et al., 2009).
> Consequently, public behaviors of groups as a whole do not coincide
> with the majority of group members' private preferences under
> circumstances of pluralistic ignorance. Thus, the situation of
> pluralistic ignorance is well represented in the following sentence:
> “No one believes, but everyone believes that everyone else believes”
> (Krech and Crutchfield, 1948).

**Tags:** behavioral-economics


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## 0 answers

