Abilene paradox
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The Abilene paradox is a collective fallacy, in which a group of people collectively decide on a course of action that is counter to the preferences of most or all individuals in the group, while each
This paradox is illustrated by a thought experiment about a family's decision-making process for taking a long road trip to Abilene, Texas.
Pluralistic ignorance
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In social psychology, pluralistic ignorance is a phenomenon in which people mistakenly believe that others predominantly hold an opinion different from their own. In such cases, many people in a group
Abilene paradox
…illusory agreement. Other theories add to the Abilene paradox's explanation of poor decision-making in groups, notably, such phenomena as groupthink and pluralistic ignorance. The concept of groupthink posits that individuals correctly perceive the preferences of others, undergo some form of motivated reasoning, which distorts…
A common illustration of pluralistic ignorance is the bystander effect: a person in apparent need receives no assistance because passersby infer from others’ inaction that help is unnecessary or unwelcome, which in turn discourages action by additional bystanders.