Correcting misperceptions of the other political party does not robustly reduce support for undemocratic practices or partisan violence

Druckman, James N.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2308938120

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…Thus, it is unclear whether addressing this misperception could reduce feelings of hopelessness. Related research has found that addressing these issues is not necessarily as simple as correcting the misperceptions 36 . Thus, rather than correcting the misperception itself, future research could instead manipulate whether participants observe a particularly negative or positive debate and measure the impact on hopelessness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Americans misperceive the frequency and format of political debate

Bailey,

White,

Iyengar

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Disagreement over divergent viewpoints seems like an ever-present feature of American life—but how common is debate and with whom do debates most often occur? In the present research, we theorize that the landscape of debate is distorted by social media and the salience of negativity present in high-profile spats. To understand the true landscape of debate, we conducted three studies (N = 2985) across online and lab samples. In contrast to the high-profile nature of negative debates with strangers, we found that people most commonly debate close contacts, namely family members and good friends. In addition, they often report feeling positive after engaging in debate. We then directly measured misperceptions regarding debate in a representative sample of Americans (N = 1991). We found that Americans systematically overestimated how often others engage in debate. This overestimation extended across debate partners (family members, good friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and strangers) and contexts (in-person and online; p’s < 0.001, d’s > 0.98), most strongly overestimating how often Americans debate strangers online. This misprediction may be psychologically costly: overestimating how often Americans debate strangers online significantly predicted greater hopelessness in the future of America. Together, our findings suggest that Americans may experience a false reality about the landscape of debate which can unnecessarily undermine their hope about the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Americans misperceive the frequency and format of political debate

Bailey,

White,

Iyengar

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Correcting misperceptions of partisan opponents is not effective at treating democratic ills

Dias,

Aarslew,

Frederiksen

et al. 2024

PNAS Nexus

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Many warn that the United States is on the brink of democratic collapse, because partisan animosity, support for partisan violence, and support for undemocratic practices are on the rise. Quelling some fears, scholars have offered interventions that use messages to correct misperceptions about citizens’ partisan opponents (the “out-party”). In this article, we provide evidence that the effects of these interventions are not as robust or consistent as hoped. First, we use panel data (n=9,810) to show that perceptions of the out-party are highly variable. This suggests that these perceptions are weakly held and thus unlikely to be a significant cause of hostile attitudes. The oscillation of perceptions over time also suggests that, for many, any effect of corrections would likely be overwhelmed in just 1 month. Second, in a meta-analysis of 67 statistical tests from 12 studies in eight papers, we document that current evidence on the efficacy of corrections is weak. Third and finally, in pre-registered experiments (n=2,846), we find that changing Americans’ perceptions of the out-party’s demographics, policy attitudes, and support for undemocratic practices has no consistent effect on partisan animosity, support for partisan violence, or support for undemocratic practices. These observations suggest that correcting misperceptions of the out-party is not a panacea for our democratic ills.

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Why partisans feel hated: Distinct static and dynamic relationships with animosity meta-perceptions

Lees,

Cikara,

Druckman

2024

PNAS Nexus

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Partisans hold inaccurate perceptions of the other side. What drives these inaccuracies? We address this question with a focus on partisan animosity meta-perceptions (i.e. how much a partisan believes opposing partisans hate them). We argue that predictors can relate to meta-perceptions statically (e.g. at a specific point in time, do partisans who post more about politics on social media differ in their meta-perceptions relative to partisans who post less?) or dynamically (e.g. does a partisan who increases their social media political posting between two defined time points change their meta-perceptions accordingly?). Using panel data from the 2020 US presidential election, we find variables display distinct static and dynamic relationships with meta-perceptions. Notably, between individuals, posting online exhibits no (static) relationship with meta-perceptions, while within individuals, those who increased their postings over time (dynamically) became more accurate. The results make clear that overly general statements about meta-perceptions and their predictors, including social media activity, are bound to be wrong. How meta-perceptions relate to other factors often depends on contextual circumstances at a given time.

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Correcting misperceptions of the other political party does not robustly reduce support for undemocratic practices or partisan violence

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Americans misperceive the frequency and format of political debate

Americans misperceive the frequency and format of political debate

Correcting misperceptions of partisan opponents is not effective at treating democratic ills

Why partisans feel hated: Distinct static and dynamic relationships with animosity meta-perceptions

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