What is public opinion: briefly and in simple words

Public opinion is the beliefs of those who were not asked. This joke can often be heard, especially among young people. This is discussed in the context of discussing the problem of dependence on other people's opinions. Let us also study the concept of public opinion, give a definition, analyze the structure, functions, mechanism of formation, and find the connection between it and the beliefs of an individual.

What is public opinion

It’s worth starting with the definition of the concept of “public.” This is a group of people who find themselves in a common difficult situation. Its participants are aware of the complexity and uncertainty of the situation and express a general attitude towards it. It is reflected in the behavior, actions, and reactions of each group member.

Until now, the concept of “public opinion” has not received a uniform definition. Let's put it this way: this is a set of beliefs, judgments on some issue, which are propagated and accepted by a group, the majority of society. This is a state of mass consciousness.

To study public opinion, sociologists and psychologists use the following research methods:

• polls,
• questionnaires,
• interview,
• phone call.

The phenomenon itself has been known for a long time, but was subjected to close study in the 20th century. First, sociology began to study the phenomenon, and then psychology. Let's look at each of the theories in more detail.

In sociology

In sociology, this is understood as the attitude of the majority towards events that occur in society. It reflects the general position of people on some issue and expresses their interests. Society consists of groups, each of them has its own opinion. It is both internal and public at the same time.

In psychology

In psychology, it is considered as a mirror reflecting the state of society. It reflects reality, shows the average opinion of people on some issue, the average system of values ​​and beliefs. It reflects the average statistical assessment of reality and dictates norms of behavior in a specific situation.

As a means of manipulation

By manipulating the beliefs of society, you can control cities and countries. Subdue people and control their behavior.

Popular methods of manipulating public opinion:

• suggestion;
• generalization, exaggeration (one case is passed off as statistics);
• starting rumors;
• playing on emotions through crime news;
• presenting an alternative according to the “lesser evil” principle (the manipulator needs and benefits from the “lesser evil”);
• promotion of beneficial information;
• suppression of facts;
• providing information in parts, which prevents you from adequately perceiving reality and seeing the big picture;
• turning lies into truth through frequent repetition of false information;
• hoax.

Mechanisms for forming public opinion

Public opinion can be shaped by infection. Then the transfer process occurs on an emotional level from one person to another without meaning or in addition to it.

Also, the formation process can occur through imitation. In this case, individuals repeat the actions and actions of others.

When transmitted through suggestion, various methods of putting pressure on people are used, thus directing their behavior in the right direction.

Public opinion can also be formed through persuasion. It is aimed at a person’s consciousness in order to create in him a meaningful idea of ​​the problem.

If we compare suggestion and persuasion, the latter is of a conscious nature. A person analyzes a problem and only then forms his opinion about it. When persuading, a conclusion is formed either together with a mentor or later independently. With suggestion, no meaningful perception occurs: a person mechanically succumbs to someone else’s influence, beginning to consider foreign thoughts and judgments as his own. Persuasion requires a lot of time, while suggestion occurs instantly.

When forming public opinion, dishonest methods can also be used: labeling, using stereotypes, slander, insinuations.

The most well-known ways to influence public opinion through the media:

1. Formation through negative reaction. The media deliberately “inflate” the hype around the authorities. They denounce her. Thus, they create a negative opinion among the population about the government or its individual representatives. Now this method is not so popular, since people have become more conscious of any statements about the political elite. Don’t swallow a pill, but filter all the information received.
2. Influence through famous persons in society. Authoritative persons who have a whole army of fans are attracted. These could be popular actors, singers, musicians, athletes, scientists. They have enormous influence among their admirers. Their political preferences cannot be criticized by fans and are immediately taken for granted.
3. Using public survey results. The media often publish public opinion polls. Their results are “custom-made”. What is beneficial to a particular political party must be made public. Thus, society is zombified into the desired attitude.

Properties

Properties include:

• coverage;
• prevalence (by subjects);
• direction;
• polarization;
• distribution (geography, social strata);
• intensity;
• sustainability;
• formation speed;
• consistency.

If we analyze the phenomenon as a social institution, we can name the following properties:

• maturity,
• direction,
• orientation,
• effectiveness.

The consciousness of the majority contains negative or positive beliefs (by polarity), as well as evaluative, analytical, constructive judgments (by content).

Structure

The structure includes an object and a subject. Object – any event (process, fact, phenomenon). When studying an object, it is important to pay attention to whether the subjects understand the problem correctly and to what exactly in the object attracted their attention. Subject – people who express value judgments regarding an object. The subject has its own structure: classes, communities, layers, groups. Those groups for which the problem is of greatest importance are included.

What else is included in the structure:

• assessments (judgments of the majority, even if they are erroneous);
• knowledge of society (theory and practice);
• feelings and emotions;
• social attitudes;
• will.

Thus, the structure of public opinion includes an emotional, volitional and rational aspect.

It shouldn't worry you

What others think about you is their business. This should not concern you in any way. Even if you find out someone else's opinion about yourself, it still will not make you a different person and will not change your life, in most cases. The opinions of others can influence you only when you allow this opinion to become decisive in your life. But this shouldn’t happen. You can't control the opinions of others, so don't pay so much attention to them and focus on yourself.

Essence and functions

So, what is the essence of public opinion:

• this is the conclusion of the entire society (most of society) on a specific issue;
• it is a reflection of the interests and needs of society;
• it is a regulator of the behavior of subjects;
• this is the result of unification and interaction of members of society.

A group belief may be false if subjects are guided by rumors and speculation rather than by actual facts.

Functions of public opinion:

1. Social control. People can support or slow down the implementation of an idea.
2. Expression. With the help of responses and assessments, society can regulate the activities of any organizations.
3. Consulting. Polls among the people help solve important, pressing problems.
4. Directive. The people have the right to vote and can participate in major decisions.

It shouldn't worry you

What others think about you is their business. This should not concern you in any way. Even if you find out someone else's opinion about yourself, it still will not make you a different person and will not change your life, in most cases. The opinions of others can influence you only when you allow this opinion to become decisive in your life. But this shouldn’t happen. You can't control the opinions of others, so don't pay so much attention to them and focus on yourself.

How public opinion is formed

Formation can be spontaneous or specially organized. Let's take a closer look at the mechanism, stages, and formation factors.

Formation mechanism

In order for public opinion to form, specific conditions must be met:

• severity of the problem, relevance and social importance, practical significance (the object always affects the political, economic, spiritual or other important part of the life of society);
• opportunity for discussion (the problem should imply the presence of alternative beliefs, differences of views, ambiguity);
• competence, cultural or information awareness, education (society must understand what we are talking about, understand the issue).

Thus, only an opinion that meets all three criteria can be public: significance, debatability, and competence.

Stages of formation

Public opinion is formed in three stages:

1. Origin. Society becomes interested in a phenomenon, and individual groups give it their assessment. People strive to search and obtain new information.
2. Formation. Members of society exchange their opinions, and on their basis a group attitude is formed.
3. Functioning. The majority begins to maintain a group attitude and adjusts their behavior to it.

Sociologists identify another fourth stage - recession (interest in the problem decreases). Why this happens: the problem is solved or it cannot be solved, a more serious problem has arisen.

Factors that influence

The formation of group relations is influenced by:

• gossip,
• gossip,
• data,
• words of authority figures,
• someone's beliefs.

That is, the general attitude on any issue is formed by the media, social institutions and individuals. Typically, psychologists and sociologists reduce sources to two positions: personal observation of other members of society and the media. Let us pay special attention to the influence of the media on public opinion.

Public opinion and the media are interconnected. The main means of media influence is stereotyping. With the help of certain behavioral stereotypes, myths and illusions, they evoke the emotions that are needed, for example, fear, joy, delight. The media shows people a picture of the world that will cause them to react in ways that the government wants. But at the same time, every participant in society can influence the media, for example, through the Internet.

Examples of essays in the direction “ME AND OTHERS”

“People are lonely because instead of bridges they build walls” (S. Jerzy Lec). Is this really true? Direction “Me and others”

(The author of the essay is Degteva Maria Ivanovna)

“People are lonely because instead of bridges they build walls,” these are the famous words of S. Jerzy Lec. I think that one of the reasons for loneliness is indeed reflected in the proposed aphorism, and I will try to prove my point of view based on fiction.

Loneliness is one of the most serious problems of our time. More and more often we hear this terrible word and feel its dangerous proximity more keenly. Loneliness is a state in which a person cannot share his sorrows and joys, thoughts and experiences with anyone, and therefore a feeling of anxiety, which does not find a way out in a friendly conversation, develops in his soul and ultimately leads to deep unhappiness.

Today, when people are less and less likely to build “bridges” - means of communication with each other, and more and more resources are spent on building “walls” that protect them from the outside world, loneliness is turning into a state familiar to everyone.

The main character of R. Bradbury's dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” faces the problem of painful awareness of his loneliness among people. Guy Montag is a firefighter of the future, whose responsibilities include not putting out fires, but starting fires in places that have been subjected to the “destructive” influence of seditious books. It is interesting that the hero, who takes pleasure in burning works of art - an activity recognized by the society of the future as correct and necessary, is still different from other residents of the city. Even before meeting the “crazy” Clarissa McLellan, who taught him to enjoy life and be truly happy, Guy begins to have thoughts that all his life he has been doing “the wrong thing.” Montag increasingly realizes that his life’s work is the destruction of “bridges” connecting different generations of people, inexhaustible sources of wisdom that carry the invaluable experience of their ancestors. Gradually he realizes that his wife is a “strange woman”, for whom the “relatives” from the television walls are closer to her husband. In the society of the future, there is no longer a place for conversations: people are silent or spout smart but empty phrases, which is why Montag is so surprised and delighted by the animation with which the MacLellans talk in the evenings. This family unity fascinates the hero so much that he does not notice how he finds himself on the porch of the “crazy” neighbors and enthusiastically listens to the wonderful sounds of an incessant conversation.

Thus, the events of the dystopia “Fahrenheit 451” serve as an excellent confirmation of the words of S. Jerzy Lec: in his science fiction novel, R. Bradbury depicted a future society in which people stopped building “bridges” to communicate with each other and closed themselves off from the world “walls” with “relatives”, empty and lifeless. The deep loneliness and meaninglessness of existence is not noticed by many characters behind the tinsel of a carefree life, but it is present and makes people truly unhappy who have not yet lost their human essence. Another work that confirms the philosopher’s thought is the story “Flight” by I. Levshin. The main character invents a machine that can communicate with a person, adapting to the user and maintaining conversations that are interesting to him. Alex creates “Mishustik” to protect his wife from the terrible news of his son’s death, but his invention falls into the hands of entrepreneurs who turn it into a substitute for human communication. Now people should not tolerate each other’s shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, make concessions and build “bridges” to communicate their interests and values. They erect “walls” of their “bubble world” in which they live and communicate with one “Mishustik” - a faithful friend, an exact copy of themselves. Outwardly, the heroes are satisfied with this order of things, but an important proof of the general feeling of hopelessness is the popularity of newly formed suicide agencies, in which one person buys his own death, and another the right to kill. The appearance of such services in society is a sure sign of a deep crisis caused by the harmful influence of loneliness, created by the hands of people themselves.

Thus, examples from fiction allow us to see that the terrible phenomenon of loneliness is largely the result of the hands of the person himself, who at some point chose to destroy “bridges” and build “walls.”

Expert assessment

• K1. The topic's question has been answered. test
• K2. To argue the answer to the topic question, examples from a work of fiction are given; there are no factual errors or distortion of the author's position. The material is excellently selected, the examples convincingly illustrate the theses. test
• K3. The work contains a thesis-proof part and the logic is traced (examples from the literature serve as proof of the thesis). test
• K4. The quality of speech (including speech errors) does not interfere with understanding the meaning of the essay. test
• K5. In total there are 2 errors (punctuation) for 563 words. No more than 5 errors per 100 words are allowed. test

TOTAL 5 points

How to make your essay better:

This is already a wonderful job, well done!

You can think about reducing the amount of work, but even this number of words will be checked, and this will not affect the evaluation criteria.

Speech shortcomings are not taken into account in the final essay, but on the Unified State Exam they will reduce the scores according to the K10 and K6 criteria. Work on the speech format of your essays now so you don’t have to relearn in the spring!

Public opinion and public consciousness

Society dictates what to condemn and what to praise, what to hide and what to support, how one can behave and how one should not behave. Public opinion is a state of public consciousness. Reflects the hidden or explicit attitude of people towards any phenomena of reality. If the beliefs of a person do not coincide with the beliefs of the majority, then he prefers to remain silent. This pattern is observed in all areas of life. Thus, group attitude and consciousness regulate the behavior of individuals.

Signs of severe addiction

Severe dependence is dangerous for a person, because his individuality and independence seem to be erased. In this case, it seems that it is much easier to trust someone else’s opinion, play along with the mood, and hide your true attitude towards something. The manifestation of dependence is determined by a specific situation, but it is also possible to identify general patterns.

Excessive interest in other people's opinions

Curiosity is not a vice, but there is a real risk of seeming intrusive and corrosive if you constantly question a person.

For a person dependent on his environment, it is important to know what the interlocutor thinks, feels, and how he feels about any event or decision. The conviction of goodwill and approval creates confidence in actions and thoughts. So, if someone else’s opinion influences actions and ideas more than your own, then this is a reason to think about whether other people’s words carry too much weight.

Frequent changes in behavior and opinion

It’s one thing to convince a person that he’s right, based on clear arguments, but the situation is completely different when the interlocutor doesn’t seem to have his own opinion. The slightest criticism will prompt you to urgently change, neglecting your own attitude; there can really be many examples.

• Get into a smoking group and start smoking yourself.
• If you read an article that pants or a skirt are out of fashion, you will never wear them again.
• See the film's rating, turn around right in front of the cinema.
• Hearing that your parents didn’t like your partner means breaking off a strong relationship.

Globally, neglecting your position can lead to big mistakes. A job you hate, a marriage without love - these are just some examples of how conformity negatively affects life. And inside such a person there is real chaos: what was the most important becomes indifferent, and previously insignificant things come to the fore. By stepping over himself, a conformist breaks his self-esteem, which is completely unhealthy behavior.

Fear of loneliness

Most likely, the fear of being alone is the main driver, because it’s simply scary to behave on your own if you’ve previously blindly trusted those around you. Someone else’s opinion is a guide to what needs to be done to find a location, what will be right and good.

Finding himself alone, a dependent person initially does not know what to strive for or how others will react to this. It’s good if the fear of responsibility for one’s actions recedes even in childhood, because an adult is expected to be decisive in actions.

The influence of public opinion on a person

Society dictates to a person how he should behave, what norms he should adhere to. Society teaches a person to be responsible for his words and actions. Society educates and re-educates, it forms traditions, habits, and customs. Mass consciousness dictates standards of life that are common to all, limiting freedom and encroaching on individuality. Finding a balance between social and individual is one of the main tasks in the life of any person.

You must understand and accept yourself, learn to analyze and filter information, everyone can integrate their ideas into society if they are truly confident in them and in themselves.

Dependence on public opinion

How to be yourself and not think about what people will say, but at the same time maintain good relations with society? Dependence on the views of others is associated with the fear of criticism and condemnation that society may subject a person to. Not everyone can oppose the majority. However, it is important to do this, because addiction hinders development and self-realization. Fear makes a person passive, deprives him of dreams and aspirations. The problem is that a person cannot live outside of society, but obeying it in everything is not the best option. What remains?

When is it better to remain silent

As soon as it comes to talking about another person, an opinion turns into an assessment. Moreover, it doesn’t matter whether you speak condemningly or approvingly - you still take a position above the object of attention, you think that you better understand how to live. And, of course, you broadcast your attitudes based on your own experience.

But an outsider does not need someone else’s approval, evaluation and control if we are talking about things that concern only him.

Appearance

It doesn’t matter whether a person likes his own appearance or not, he will figure it out himself. What he definitely shouldn’t do is change himself to suit other people’s preferences. This includes height, weight, body shape, style and everything that in one way or another concerns appearance.

Age

The number does not depend on the person, and he does not need advice on how to look younger (unless he himself asks for it).

Personal preferences

For one, jellied fish is disgusting, while another loves it. He is not obliged to listen to the itching as he can eat it. Books, music, movies, hobbies - all this can be discussed, but not judged. But, as already mentioned, as long as preferences do not cross boundaries and begin to harm.

If someone made renovations in “disgusting beige tones” or, conversely, painted the walls red and the ceiling green, then this is a matter of taste and not the business of others. If, during the renovation, illegal redevelopment was carried out, this is already a common matter. When a person does not marry before forty, this is his personal choice. And when someone says that it’s okay to marry ten-year-olds, it’s better to speak out.

This does not mean that you cannot have your own opinion on these issues. But speaking out on them is already tactless.

By doing this, you do not help anyone and do not improve anything, but simply meddle in a person’s life with your own measure and push through his boundaries. When you want to speak out, ask yourself if this concerns you. If not, it's better to chew than talk.

How to stop depending on public opinion

First of all, you need to accept the fact that all people depend on others. Some to a lesser extent (strong-willed, self-confident people), and some to a greater extent (insecure individuals with complexes and fears), but there are no exceptions. So you won’t be able to completely get rid of addiction. This is how a person works that we need to take into account the beliefs of the majority, look at other people if we want to achieve something in life.

The diversity of views is due to people’s different life experiences, different interests, and specific perceptions. You must understand and accept yourself, learn to analyze and filter information. Remember that the attitude of the majority is changeable. We have already said what this depends on. With a certain amount of self-confidence, an arsenal of facts and arguments, you yourself can make your beliefs popular. Everyone can integrate their ideas into society if they are truly confident in them and in themselves.

Problem Definition

Allodoxophobia is a psychological term used to describe the fear of being judged by society, both by close associates and strangers. This leads to the fact that a person does not act as he would like. It starts with small things like choosing clothes and spills over into global ones. How many spouses, unhappy in marriage, do not divorce because of fears of becoming objects of gossip from others.

There are two particularly close groups of people whose opinion is so important for an addicted person.

1. Parents. It happens that overly persistent guardianship turns a child into a weak-willed person, unable to make his own decisions and constantly looking back at the reaction of relatives. The sons and daughters of such domineering parents usually do not marry for a long time, since their choice must first of all be approved by their mother and father. The choice of a future specialty also rests with the parents, and the interests of the teenager are not always taken into account.
2. Friends. From an early age, we attach great importance to what classmates, kids from the yard, etc. say. Children are sometimes cruel, they still do not know the sense of tact and they almost always say what they think. Therefore, since childhood, every person has a fear of being ridiculed by their peers, and many over the years continue to adjust their actions to the criteria established by their closest circle of friends.

Colleagues, bosses, and neighbors can also act as authorities. You need to take into account the opinions of others, but you should make decisions about your life yourself. Suspiciousness can lead to a person missing out on something important in his life for fear of being judged.

There are cases when a so-called reverse reaction occurs. A person specifically challenges society, showing that he absolutely does not care about its foundations.

This is mainly typical for teenagers. This extreme is not very good, since the decision is made rashly and is contrary to the interests of the individual. Often the challenge is expressed in boorish behavior that contradicts the norms of etiquette. It is worth noting that dependence on other people’s opinions and reactions forces a person to keep himself within limits. For some individuals, the fear of public condemnation saves them from rash and illegal actions.