Spiral of

Silence

Theory

Objectives:

• To understand the meaning of the Spiral

of silence theory.

• To know the difference of being in the

majority or minority opinion.

• The effect the

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann

who formulated the theory in Germany in 1974

Definition

• Introduced in 1974, observations

made in one context (the mass

media) spread to another and

encouraged people either to proclaim

their views or to swallow them and

keep quiet until, in a spiraling

process, the one view dominated the

public scene and the other

disappeared from the public

awareness as its adherents became

mute.

if a person thinks

their opinion is not

shared by the

majority they will

most likely either…

Express the

opinion they

think the

majority

DOES hold

Remain Silent.

But how do

people

know what

the

“majority

opinion” is?

We are all exposed to

the mass media in at

least one way or another

Therefore, we are all at risk of…

the spiral of silence effect.

Unless, of course,

you are a

HARDCORE:

*Presenter's Choice…

Strong enough to DEFEAT the

spiral of silence effect!

CONCLUSION