Borne by the silent majority

false consensus bias and the challenges to democracy in an age of political radicalization

Authors

Keywords:

false consensus bias, political polarization, identity-based tribalization, ideological radicalization, deliberative democracy

Abstract

The false consensus bias, the tendency of individuals to overestimate the degree of social agreement with their own beliefs and attitudes, constitutes one of the central psychological mechanisms for understanding some of the challenges currently faced by democratic politics. This article critically reviews sixty-four relevant studies on the subject, discussing the theoretical and methodological evolution of the field as well as its applications to the political domain. It argues that false consensus contributes to affective polarization, identity-based tribalization, ideological radicalization, and the unavailability for democratic compromise by distorting perceptions of opinion diversity and legitimizing practices of intolerance. Finally, the article discusses the need for strategies to counteract this bias in order to strengthen pluralistic coexistence in democratic societies.

Author Biography

Wilson da Silva Gomes, Universidade Federal da Bahia

É professor titular de Teoria da Comunicação na Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) e coordenador do Instituto Nacional de Ciência & Tecnologia em Democracia Digital (INCT.DD). Doutor em Filosofia, dedica-se à pesquisa sobre comunicação política, democracia e esfera pública digital. É autor de diversos livros e artigos sobre o tema, entre eles Transformações da política na era digital (Paulus, 2024), A imagem política na esfera pública (Ideias & Letras, 2025) e A democracia no mundo digital (Edições Sesc, 2024). Suas investigações abordam as transformações contemporâneas da política sob o impacto das tecnologias digitais, os desafios democráticos decorrentes da desinformação e o papel da comunicação na construção da legitimidade política.

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Published

2025-12-25

How to Cite

Gomes, W. da S. (2025). Borne by the silent majority: false consensus bias and the challenges to democracy in an age of political radicalization. Galaxia, 50(1), e71482. Retrieved from https://revistas.pucsp.br/index.php/galaxia/article/view/71482

Issue

Vol. 50 No. 1 (2025): Galáxia volume 50

Section

Artigos | Articles

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