Intergroup contact reduces affective polarization but not among strong party identifiers

Thomsen, Jens Peter Frølund; Thomsen, Anna Håland

doi:10.1111/1467-9477.12242

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Research on positive emotions and political behavior has been less common, but given that affective polarization is based in social identity theory, a theoretical point of departure will be to explore how positive intergroup contact may reduce affective polarization as postulated by the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954). Recent research by Thomsen and Thomsen (2022) shows that intergroup contact does seem to reduce affective polarization. Similarly, Borinca et al (2022) show that imagining positive contact with an outgroup influences intergroup support and positive emotions, and that these effects were magnified among those who most opposed the outgroups from the start.…”

Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threats, Emotions, and Affective Polarization

Renström

Bäck

Carroll

2023

Political Psychology

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Why do some individuals feel hostility and express bias against supporters of other political parties? Drawing on intergroup threat theory, we examine the role of emotions as a mechanism by which perceived threats against the ingroup are a source of increased affective polarization. In two survey experiments performed in the multiparty contexts of Sweden (N = 505) and Germany (N = 776), we manipulated intergroup threat using simulated online media, presenting participants with content related to immigration, and measured affective polarization using ratings of ingroup and outgroup supporter traits and feeling thermometers. Compared to a control condition, the threatening content evoked fear, anxiety, and anger among participants. However, only when individuals reacted to the threatening content with anger was increased affective polarization observed, in line with research showing that anger is a high‐arousal emotion related to an increased reliance on stereotypes. We conclude that individuals distance themselves from supporters of opposing political parties when they perceive a threat to their ingroup and subsequently react with anger. The findings contribute to the literature on affective polarization by stressing the role of emotional reactions to intergroup threat.

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Section: Concluding Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Threats, Emotions, and Affective Polarization

Renström

Bäck

Carroll

2023

Political Psychology

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“…There is no room to review all the proposed strategies and analyses of their effectiveness. A sample of the recent literature is given by: [ 24 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. The evidence is mixed, in that some depolarizing methods work in some environments, but fail in others.…”

Section: Social Sciences and Opinion Modeling Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Depolarization and Diversity of Opinions—Unified ABM Framework

Sobkowicz

2023

Entropy

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Most sociophysics opinion dynamics simulations assume that contacts between agents lead to greater similarity of opinions, and that there is a tendency for agents having similar opinions to group together. These mechanisms result, in many types of models, in significant polarization, understood as separation between groups of agents having conflicting opinions. The addition of inflexible agents (zealots) or mechanisms, which drive conflicting opinions even further apart, only exacerbates these polarizing processes. Using a universal mathematical framework, formulated in the language of utility functions, we present novel simulation results. They combine polarizing tendencies with mechanisms potentially favoring diverse, non-polarized environments. The simulations are aimed at answering the following question: How can non-polarized systems exist in stable configurations? The framework enables easy introduction, and study, of the effects of external “pro-diversity”, and its contribution to the utility function. Specific examples presented in this paper include an extension of the classic square geometry Ising-like model, in which agents modify their opinions, and a dynamic scale-free network system with two different mechanisms promoting local diversity, where agents modify the structure of the connecting network while keeping their opinions stable. Despite the differences between these models, they show fundamental similarities in results in terms of the existence of low temperature, stable, locally and globally diverse states, i.e., states in which agents with differing opinions remain closely linked. While these results do not answer the socially relevant question of how to combat the growing polarization observed in many modern democratic societies, they open a path towards modeling polarization diminishing activities. These, in turn, could act as guidance for implementing actual depolarization social strategies.

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“…This triggers favourable behavior towards the ingroup and unfavourable behavior towards the outgroup (Hogg, CooperShaw, and Holzworth 1993;Dovidio et al 2012). Following this motivational component in the self-categorization process, greater differences in relation to members of other groups might block any attempt of extending ingroup favourableness to them (Thomsen and Thomsen 2022). Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte and Alberto López (2023) recently found that citizens are willing to even change preferences over important issues associated to the ingroup identity if this avoids the reduction of identity-based distinctiveness concerning the outgroup.…”

Section: Self-identification With the Ingroup And Social Recategoriza...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Identification With the Ingroup And The Success of Social Recategorization: Reducing Territorial Disliking Within Spain

Sola

2023

Preprint

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Does self-identification as ingroup member affect the success of social recategorization in reducing outgroup disliking? The extent to which individuals align themselves with their ingroup definestheir proximity to the members of that group and their perceptions of dissimilarities between them and members of other groups. Consequently, self-identification with the ingroup might act as a moderator in efforts to bridge the divide between conflicting groups. I theorize that for social recategorization to effectively reduce outgroup negative bias individuals need to feel close enough to the ingroup´s identity while simultaneously perceiving that the differences between them and members of the outgroup are not irreconcilable. I focus on territorial-based disliking between individuals from the Spanish regions of Madrid and Catalonia. Through an online experiment, I test whether disliking towards regional outgroupers is reduced by highlighting both regions as positive contributors in the high rates of blood donations in Spain. I find that this is the case among those individuals who are moderately attached to their regional ingroup but not when attachment is either too weak or too strong. These findings hold valuable

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Intergroup contact reduces affective polarization but not among strong party identifiers

Cited by 9 publications

References 51 publications

Threats, Emotions, and Affective Polarization

Threats, Emotions, and Affective Polarization

Social Depolarization and Diversity of Opinions—Unified ABM Framework

Self-Identification With the Ingroup And The Success of Social Recategorization: Reducing Territorial Disliking Within Spain

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