Christopher Ryan of Antioch University New England is in the dissertation phase of his doctoral program and the central question of his research relates to self-censorship of personal views and ideas that may be unpleasant, controversial, or uncomfortable. Most specifically, he is iinterested in specific concerns people have that lead to their self-censorship behaviors.
He thinks that the area of population numbers is one of those issues, like growth generally, that elicits significant visceral negative reactions and thus self-censorship. He believes self-censorship may be a common response by people who hold strong views about population.
He has designed a questionnaire to find out what may be happening. The questionnaire is at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=F1xytz_2fF_2fPl31pjFaIMzcg_3d_3d
One facet of the research is the part of the "spiral of silence" theory that suggests that self-censorship behaviors mask how important or widespread certain beliefs may actually be. He hopes to use this work to show that in topics like population, self-censorship may be holding back a groundswell of concern over this vital issue.
Christopher Ryan has a blog called The Localizer Blog (http://thelocalizer.blogspot.com)
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