Perceived social consensus licenses people to express their biases

Evidence

Perceiving (at least local) social consensus validates people’s beliefs and encourages them to translate their attitudes into action. Sechrist and Stangor (2001) manipulated perceived consensus to explore the extent to which it can create consistency between people’s attitudes and behaviors. They found that highly prejudiced college students who were provided with information that their anti-Black beliefs were shared by other students at their university subsequently sat farther away from an African American target than participants who were informed that their beliefs were not shared. That the correspondence between scores on a prejudice questionnaire and seating distance was greater when people believed that most other students shared their beliefs, suggests that knowing that others share one’s prejudices gives social permission for those prejudices to be acted upon. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1913 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Social sharing among ingroup members – gossip, rumor, opinions, stories, media – contribute to consensus in stereotyped beliefs and related prejudices. The most easily communicated traits constitute the core of most stable stereotypes (Schaller & Conway, 2001). The knowledge that their prejudices and stereotypes are shared gives people social permission to express their biases, reinforcing their own and other people’s stereotypes and prejudice. These prejudiced communications demonstrate the explicitly social shared understandings that underlie normal prejudice. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 331 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Communicating scientific consensus reduces climate polarization across the spectrum — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 142; Perceived scientific consensus is a central gateway to related climate beliefs. — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 665; People discount their own sense evidence to conform to group consensus — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 89 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Perceived consensus legitimizes people’s expression of prejudice #corroborates (0.98) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1913
• Shared knowledge of prejudice grants social permission to express bias #corroborates (0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 331