ABSTRACT
Pluralistic ignorance is the label social scientists give to a widespread misperception of group norms by individual group members. Pluralistic moral ignorance may initiate some chronic forms of organizational unethical behaviors, but spirals of silence likely perpetuate them. To voice a private moral concern directly and unequivocally to that audience is to identify oneself as different from the group. Avoidance strategies in communication could take the place of upfront and direct discussion about the private concern. Scholars working under the banner "social identity theory" explain that individuals' self-concept is generated by a mix of idiosyncratic beliefs about the self as well as information gathered from their group memberships. The communication norm is to avoid discussion of ethics in the here and now and substitute that talk with other kinds of discussion. Where pluralistic ignorance is about misperception of group norms, spiral of silence theory involves mutual adjustment, over time, among communicators based on those communicators' guesses about others' private opinions.
