Political polarization projection: Social projection of partisan attitude extremity and attitudinal processes.

Abstract

What influences perceptions of political polarization? The authors examine the polarization of people's own political attitudes as a source of perceived polarization: Individuals with more extreme partisan attitudes perceive greater polarization than individuals with less extreme partisan attitudes. This "polarization projection" was demonstrated in 3 studies in which people estimated the distribution of others' political attitudes: one study with a nationally representative sample concerning the 2008 presidential election, and 2 studies concerning university students evaluating a policy regarding scarce resource allocation. These studies demonstrate that polarization projection occurs simultaneously with and independently of simple projection, the tendency to assume that others share one's partisan political attitudes. Polarization projection may occur partly because people assume that others engage in similar attitudinal processes as the self, such as extensive thought and emotional arousal. The projection of various attitudinal processes was demonstrated in a study concerning health care reform policies. Further supporting this explanation, polarization projection increased when people introspected about their own attitudinal processes, which increased the accessibility of those processes. Implications for perceptions of partisanship, social judgment, and civic behavior are discussed.

Beyond Survey Self-Reports: Using Physiology to Tap Political Orientations

“…For example, those with more extreme attitudes project extremity onto others, and behave and cooperate differently than those who do not have such strong attitudes. (Rutchick, Smyth, & Konrath, 2009;Van Boven, Judd, & Sherman, 2012). Strong attitudes are also associated with biased processing and increased likelihood of being polarized (Taber, Cann, & Kucsova, 2009), as well as intolerance of those with different moral convictions (Wright, Callum and Schwab 2008).…”

Political ideology affects energy-efficiency attitudes and choices

“…Because of the two-party political system in the United States, the divergence on environmental issues produces a salient in-group/out-group distinction in which value-based concerns are likely to play an important role (19,20). Because the United States is the second largest producer of carbon emissions in the world (21), it is crucial to understand what factors will affect Americans' adoption of energy-efficient measures.…”

Vote intent and beliefs about democracy in the United States

“…Numerous scholars have added to the debate on how polarized the U.S. has become in recent decades (e.g., Abramowitz and Saunders 1998, Hetherington 2001, Fiorina, et al 2006, Layman, et al 2006, Abramowitz and Saunders 2008, Baldassarri and Gelman 2008, Fiorina, et al 2008, Hetherington 2009, Hetherington and Weiler 2009, Iyengar, et al 2012, Van Boven, et al 2012, Prior 2013, Jacoby 2014, Westfall, et al 2015, Levendusky and Malhotra 2016 permanently aggravated relationship and the belief that the opposition is trying to undermine democratic institutions. This is exemplified in current political rhetoric as groups often reference policies of the party they disagree with as fascist, communist, socialist, or totalitarian; and while such rhetoric often makes little sense, especially where distinct ideologies are used by the same person to describe the same policy or party, the underlying message appears to be that the target policy or party is undemocratic.…”

“…The analyses herein suggest that such distrust may originate from a matter-of-degree, rather than a fundamental, disagreement over the nature and purpose of democratic governance and may thus be a tractable problem. However, just because party supporters do not report extreme associations with the above suggested characteristics of democracy, does not mean they do not perceive themselves as radically divergent from the opposition (cf., Mackie and Cooper 1984, Mackie 1986, Van Boven, et al 2012). …”