Pluralistic ignorance about sex : The direct and the indirect effects of media consumption on college students' misperception of sex-related peer norms

The term pluralistic ignorance refers to erroneous beliefs held by a group of individuals about the attitudes or behavior of others. In this study, we examined the degree to which college students in Singapore misconceive their peers' sexual attitudes and behavior. The data for this study came from a web-based survey involving a random sample of 534 college students in Singapore. The results indicate widespread evidence of pluralistic ignorance; that is, students believed that their peers were significantly more sexually active than was actually the case. The data also suggest that the students formed such erroneous impressions of peers on the basis, in part, of the students' media consumption and of the students' own sexual attitudes.