MAJORITY AND MINORITY PERCEPTIONS OF CONSENSUS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RESOLVING CONFLICTS ABOUT LAND-USE REGULATION

Residents of a small rural community were surveyed to examine the rela tionship between the false consensus bias and recommendations for reso lving conflicts about two locally relevant environmental issues concer ning regulation of land use in the community. Both the level of consen sus that respondents perceived for their views and the extent to which they overestimated consensus were correlated with their recommendatio ns for resolving conflicts about the issues. Respondents who overestim ated consensus and/or who perceived higher levels of consensus for the ir views were more likely to endorse majority rule to resolve conflict s, were less likely to endorse compromise, and were more likely to say their own views should prevail These findings suggest that false cons ensus bias could affect the determination and effectiveness with which majorities and minorities press their points in public discussion of local issues.