The final speaker in this ECREA 2022 session is Jule Scheper, who again highlights both the Spiral of Silence theory, but also the limited effects of such dynamics that have been observed empirically. Under what circumstances, then, might there be more significant effects? The present paper explores this for health communication in the context of COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Perceptions of being in a minority negatively affect people’s willingness to public express their opinions. Further, the present project assumes that the higher the morality of the topic, the stronger the silencing effect; but also, the greater a person’s interest in the …