Ingroup Validators Amplify Polarization Interventions: A Large-Scale Experiment

• In Event: Experiments on Political Behavior in Advanced Democracies

Abstract

Affective polarization has gripped the American social landscape, damaging interpersonal relationships and eroding political trust. One factor driving this polarization and exacerbating democratic retrenchment is perception gaps, which are differences between estimated and actual outpartisan beliefs. Prior research indicates that interventions to reduce perception gaps among outpartisans can reduce affective polarization. Our interdisciplinary study focuses on improving depolarization interventions by incorporating new insights from social psychology research on the importance of sympathetic outgroup exemplars and in-group membership. We conducted a randomized survey experiment with 4,800 U.S. respondents, testing three different treatments incorporating perception gap statistics, outpartisan video testimonials, and ingroup video reactions. To illustrate the treatments: in one outpartisan video testimonial condition, Republican respondents were shown the video testimony of a Democrat which conflicts with their perception of Democratic opinion. In one ingroup reaction condition, Republican respondents were shown video testimony from a Democrat and additional video of a Republican responding to the testimony showcasing such a perception gap.

Results show these new interventions are highly effective in reducing affective polarization. Combining the treatments (perception gap statistics, outgroup video, and ingroup reaction video) amplified their effects: respondents who received all three intervention conditions saw the largest increases in warmth and decreases in animosity toward members of the opposing political party. In particular, the outpartisan testimony and ingroup reaction video treatment improved partisan perceptions by 20 percentage points as compared to the pure control, a measurably larger effect than in previous depolarization interventions. The outpartisan text testimonials correspondingly improved outgroup warmth by 7 percentage points and a third treatment using outpartisan text testimonials and outpartisan video interviews improved outgroup warmth by 13 percentage points. While considerable, the effects of the interventions decay after one week, highlighting the need for sustainable interventions and further exploration of strategies to address affective polarization.

Authors

• Natasha Gordon, Columbia University

• Calista Small, More in Common

• Ashley Fabrizio, Stanford University

• Coco Xu