Pseudo-opinion
Also known as: Pseudo-opinion effect, Nonattitude
People will confidently give an opinion on something entirely made up.
What it means
The phenomenon whereby survey respondents offer substantive opinions about issues, laws, or entities that do not exist or about which they could have no real knowledge, rather than admitting they have none. Driven by the social pressure of the question itself, a wish to appear informed, and the ease of generating an on-the-spot reaction, people convert 'don't know' into a manufactured stance. The effect is a serious threat to survey validity, since these nonattitudes are indistinguishable in the data from genuinely held views and can sway reported public opinion. It is mitigated by explicitly offering and legitimizing a 'no opinion' or filter response, and by probing the strength and stability of expressed attitudes. It matters for polling, market research, and any inference about what people 'think,' because the mere act of asking can conjure an opinion that was not there.
Examples
In classic studies, sizeable fractions of respondents expressed views on the fictitious 'Public Affairs Act of 1975' when simply asked whether it should be repealed.
Asked to rate a coffee brand that does not exist, market-research panellists dutifully give it three stars rather than admit they have never heard of it.
In a staff survey, employees rate their company's 'Horizon framework' — an initiative that was never launched — because the question implies they ought to know it.
First described in Documented by Bishop et al. and Schuman & Presser (1980s).