Skip Navigation


Public Opinion Quarterly Advance Access originally published online on November 25, 2008
Public Opinion Quarterly 2008 72(4):781-791; doi:10.1093/poq/nfn056
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
72/4/781    most recent
nfn056v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wojcieszak, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

False Consensus Goes Online

Impact of Ideologically Homogeneous Groups on False Consensus

Magdalena Wojcieszak

Address correspondence to Magdalena Wojcieszak; e-mail: magdalena{at}asc.upenn.edu.

This study analyzes survey data obtained from members of neo-Nazi and radical environmentalist discussion forums. It assesses the extent to which participants in homogeneous online groups exhibit false consensus, i.e., overestimate public support for their views, and whether the overestimation increases with increased online participation. Although the analyzed sample overestimates public support, the overestimation is no greater than found with more conventional populations studied to date. However, false consensus among the neo-Nazis increases with their involvement in online groups, also controlling for extremism. Among the environmentalists, it is the extremism, not online participation that accounts for false consensus. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

MAGDALENA WOJCIESZAK is with the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6220, USA. The author would like to thank Dr. Michael Delli Carpini, Dr. Vincent Price, and Dr. Michael Hennessy from the Annenberg School for Communication, as well as three anonymous reviewers and the editor.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Int J Public Opin ResHome page
M. Wojcieszak and V. Price
What Underlies the False Consensus Effect? How Personal Opinion and Disagreement Affect Perception of Public Opinion
Int. J. Public Opin. Res., March 1, 2009; 21(1): 25 - 46.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.