Is there a “tipping point” for public opinion?

How and when does an established viewpoint of a society change? What does it take for a society (a very large group of people) to alter its collective opinion? Is there a “tipping point” for public opinion? A recent study using a naming game discovered that when a minority viewpoint became held by “at least 25% of the population,” that viewpoint “was likely to rapidly become the majority viewpoint.” In the naming game, “all participants participated as equals, similar to the way anonymous individuals interact online” through social media. A small minority of people can become powerful/influential by “pure, unwavering commitment to an idea” (Roni Dengler, Science, June 7, 2018).

Is there a tipping point for changing public opinion?  An image of a rally for legalizing same-sex marriage in Australia
Is there a tipping point for changing public opinion? An example is the general change in opinion about legalizing same-sex marriage.

Go to the source —

Centola, D., Becker, J., Brackbill, D., & Baronchelli, A. (2018). Experimental evidence for tipping points in social convention. Science, 360(6393), 1116-1119.  [Cited by]

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