“Nothing succeeds like success,” a well-known French proverb advises. In American politics, “success” is often defined by the accumulation of mass popular support. And the belief that perceptions of popular support will spawn even greater support has become an important tenet of conventional political wisdom.

The goal of Part III is to examine theory and evidence pertaining to the influence of perceptions of collective opinion on political attitudes and behaviors. Toward this end, Chapter 6 reviews the extent and limitations of evidence regarding this general hypothesis. Since evidence appears in studies of a wide variety of political phenomena and under quite different labels, making sense of this literature is not as simple as it might first appear. Likewise, the methodological pluralism used in addressing these questions strengthens the generalizations that can be drawn, while simultaneously limiting opportunities for replication. Chapter 7 takes up the task of proposing a plausible theoretical framework for understanding the mechanisms by which perceptions of collective opinion translate to alterations in individual opinions or behaviors. Chapter 8 then tests these propositions using a series of experiments embedded within representative national surveys.

The intuitive sensibility of the idea that people care what others think has fueled tremendous public handwringing as well as academic concern. So strong are beliefs about the power of perceived public opinion both in the United States and abroad that numerous restrictions have been imposed on the distribution of information about collective others' views.