Notes in Communications -- Spiral of Silence
I wonder if you come up with such situations: the people surround you are all talking, praising or criticizing someone or something, but you have different opinions. You don't dare to speak out your idea but say "oh, yes" to them, because you are afraid of being isolated and under punishment. These situations are quite common in daily life and in communication there is a term called “spiral of silence “to explain it.
This term was firstly brought about by German scholar Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916-2010). She found that in the election of West Germany（FRG） in 1965, the two parties -- SPD and CDU had nearly the same amount of support in the beginning but during the voting period, the support rate had a tremendous difference. SPD had a big success.
The reason is the CDU's supporters guessed that they were lack of support, so they didn't want to speak out in public, and they kept silent. However, the SPD thought everybody was in my side and they were talking in public often to express their policies. So in one hand there was just silence and in the other hand there was full of confidence. The public was misled.
Then the "Spiral of Silence" came. This term is describing such situation.
According to the theory of "spiral of silence", once a crowd is communicating freely, there must be "opinion leaders". They have strong logic power, communication skills and can be easily trusted by most people. So if they say a word quite firmly, others will follow. The "spiral of silence " is taking charge of the crowd who don't have other wisdom.
Take an example of small companies and big companies. Small companies are more likely to have a better atmosphere and high effiency since there are not many employees and information transfer is easy and fast. But when the company is developing into a big organization, it will have many management layers. The department managers will be "opinion leaders" and the big boss has the risk of losing key information. As a result, bosses will set regulations of less-layers management and managers taking-turn in different departments.
There is a story about " spiral of silence ". A young man, we call him "A", has recenty been employed by a company. On the company's party of the new year, he was chosen by the host to be interviewed. After the normal questions like "how is your work here" and "what is your new year wish", the host asked him: do you like XXX (XXX is his colleague who already worked here for several years)?
A: I don't.
H: Because XXX is more handsome than you? Or he earns more money than you?
A: It is not because of these things.
H: I don't believe. You are not telling the truth, bro~ HAHAHAHA
The man A shrugged and didn't talk any more.
The host had answers already, though they are not A's opinion. But under that circumstance, there is no other way. The host was the "opinion leader" there, and audience would trust him naturally. A's opposite idea would be very hard to express so he chose to shut up.
There are scholars who critisize "spiral of silence". The main critization is the fear of being isolated may not suitable for everyone. It is about people's character and culture background.
There is a kind of people who don't care about others like Don Quixote. They will hold their own opinions no matter what others say. They can be "opinion leaders" who turn over the recent " spiral of silence ".
Cultures can be divided into two type: high context and low context. China is a typical high context country. We will say no first when receiving a gift, but acturally we mean yes and thanks, and we will express the meaning later. On the controry, if people from low context country like the America, they will say yes and thanks directly.
So in China, the "spiral of silence" can be seen more often. We should realize it and use it to fulfill our goal.
不知道你有没有这样的经历，周围的人都在谈论、赞扬、批评某个人或某件事的时候，怀着不一样看法的你却不敢将心中真实的想法吐露，只在附和，因为害怕受到所有人的讨伐，怕被孤立。生活中种种类似的经历，其实在传播学里有一个专业术语来解释，那就是——沉默的螺旋。
沉默的螺旋理论的提出者，是德国学者伊丽莎白·诺尔-纽曼（Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann 1916-2010）。她发现1965年西德大选中，两个竞争的党派，社会民主党(SPD)和基督教民主党/基督教社会党联盟(CDU)的支持率一直相持不下，直到9月初投票前，一直如此。但是到了投票时，两党差距突然拉大，社会民主党取得大胜。
这里的原因是，基督教民主党的支持者错误的认为自己缺乏支持，不敢公开发表观点，选择了沉默。而社会民主党的支持者则认为周围人都支持自己，敢于发表自己的意见。沉默的扩散和优势意见的大胆表达，令公众产生了错误的感知。
于是“沉默的螺旋”产生。这个词就是来形容这种现象。
根据“沉默的螺旋”理论，一旦人群内允许相互交流，那就一定会有“意见领袖”冒出来。这些人推理能力强，口才好，有威信，斩钉截铁地说出一个结论，其他人只好跟上。“沉默的螺旋”立即开始起作用，群体的智慧也就消失了。
小公司往往氛围好、效率高，因为人员少，信息传递机制健康，多信道，双向传递，速度还非常快。而随着公司逐渐成长，逐渐变大，开始出现部门、层级，表面上看这是好事，想去解决效率的问题。但信息传递机制会逐渐缓慢，部门经理就会成为关键的信息节点，也就是“意见领袖”，组织内部就会出现严重的消音，最终的决策人——最高领导，掌握不到关键信息。所以会有扁平化管理，中层干部轮岗。
这里有一个职场故事，正好印证了“沉默的螺旋”。一个年轻的男生A刚入职于一家公司，在年会上，被主持人抽中采访。刚开始问了几个很正常的问题，像工作感受和下一年的心愿等等。
后来话锋一转，主持人问他：你欣赏XXX吗（XXX是同公司的员工，工作时间比较长）
他说：不欣赏。
主持人社会笑了，又问：因为他比你帅吗？还是他比你挣得多？
他说：都不是因为这些。
主持人拍拍他肩膀：谁信呐，跟我还这么官方，哈哈哈哈哈
他耸了耸肩，没再说话。
A不再说话的原因是主持人已经帮他想好了回答，虽然不是自己的想法，但在那个场合下，还有什么更好的方式吗？主持人本来就是这个场合的“意见领袖”，他说了自己猜测的原因，底下的人会潜意识地接受，他再反驳很费力了。
也有学者会批评“沉默的螺旋”。最主要的批评在于被孤立的感觉不见得使用于所有人。这取决于人的性格和文化背景。
有一类人就不关心别人怎么想。就像“堂吉诃德”式的人物。他们可以不管别人说什么，总会坚持自己的观点。这样的人往往能当意见领袖，扭转已有的“沉默的螺旋”。
从文化传统上分，有高语境和低语境文化之分。中国就属于典型的高语境，高语境的传播或讯息是绝大部分信息或存在于物质环境中，或内化在个人身上，极少存在于编码清晰的讯息中。低语境正好相反，大量信息被置于清晰的编码中。换句话说，要理解高语境的讯息，仅看字面意思是不够的，必须要结合大量的习惯、言外之意和潜规则才能理解。比如中国人、日本人在接受礼物或受到称赞时的否定或推辞，从字面来看是否定，但结合文化来看，其实是委婉地接受。而来自低语境文化的人，则会直接表达自己的谢意。
沉默的螺旋在中国好用，因为我们整体是不直言，看周围眼色的。所以谁坚持，谁不怕周围眼光，谁赢。
