She says that group pressure plays a role in conformity. It is that dependency on others' judgment that Noelle-Neumann explores in support of her theory. In the early fifties, social psychologist Solomon Asch conducted experiments revealing how substantial the fear of isolation can be. The results showed six of ten subjects matched the false choice of the planted participants. Even in a harmless task that does not touch their real interests, most people will join the majority point of view even when they know it is false.
All societies contain pressures to conform although to different degrees.
Noelle-Neumann suggests it is the fear of isolation that makes those pressures effective. I think Noelle-Neumann was successful in supporting her spiral of silence hypothesis with the historical data from the classic authors and the results of the experiments. Her psychological approach to explaining the political arena is a refreshing look at why people behave the way they do. I agree with the author's implication that human psychology is the backbone of every decision and every action. Fear plays an important role in determining what or how much information people reveal and what choices they make.