Misjudgment of opinion

“people do not always correctly estimate the distribution of opinions within their group … people’s tendency to infer that a familiar opinion is a prevalent one, even when its familiarity derives solely from the repeated expression of 1 group member … the effect is due to opinion accessibility rather than a conscious inference about the meaning of opinion repetition in a group.” Weaver, K. et al. Inferring the Popularity of an Opinion From Its Familiarity: A Repetitive Voice Can Sound Like a Chorus, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92 (5), 821-833, 2007.