CHAPTER 23 Spiral of Silence Theory (SST)

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CHAPTER 23 Spiral of Silence Theory (SST)
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Elisabeth Noelle-Neumanns Spiral of Silence
theory (SST) assumes that the media influence our
opinions about events, people, and topics.
SST suggests that people who believe that they
hold a minority viewpoint on a public
issue will remain in the background
where their communication will be
constrained those who believe
they hold a majority viewpoint will
become more encouraged to speak.
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• Assumptions of SST
• 1. Society threatens deviant individuals with
  isolation fear of isolation is pervasive.
• 2. The fear of isolation causes individuals to
  try to assess the climate of opinions at all
  times.

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• Assumptions cont.
• 3. Public behavior is affected by public opinion
  assessment.
• a. Public behavior takes the form of either
• speaking out on a subject or keeping
• silent.
• b. People act according to how other
• people feel.
• c. People seek out the media to confirm or
• disconfirm their observations and then
  
• interpret their own observations
• through the media

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• Characteristics of Media
• 1. Ubiquitous
• a. Media are pervasive sources of
• information.
• 2. Cumulative
• a. Refers to the process of the media
• repeating themselves across programs
• and across time
• 3. Consonant
• a. Applies to the similarities of beliefs,
• attitudes, and values held by the media