Party Signs
Solution spillover: Pairing issues with ideological solutions fuels polarization
Adrienne Kafka, Troy Campbell & Aaron Kay
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 19 August 2025
Abstract:
Recent research has focused on understanding ideological and affective political polarization in the United States; however, the polarization of issue salience -- defined as personal beliefs about how important or concerning an issue is, and how much attention or priority it deserves -- has garnered less attention, especially regarding its underlying causes. We propose that issue salience polarization, particularly that of ideologically neutral issues, is driven in part by two psychological processes: solution aversion (denying problem severity when solutions are introduced that conflict with political beliefs) and solution attraction (exaggerating problem severity when solutions are introduced that align with political beliefs). If this is so, we should be able to observe issues that are nonpolarized at baseline become suddenly polarized when paired with solutions that are consistent with a specific ideological position (liberal or conservative). Consistent with this prediction, four experimental studies demonstrate the emergence of issue salience polarization arising from solution aversion and solution attraction (Studies 1–4). Results also demonstrate support for the role of zero-sum beliefs, or the belief that one political party’s gains must come at the expense of the other party, in driving this process (Study 3).
The Politics of Small Business Owners
Neil Malhotra, Yotam Margalit & Saikun Shi
British Journal of Political Science, July 2025
Abstract:
Small business owners play a central role in all advanced economies. Nonetheless, they are an understudied occupational group politically, particularly compared to groups that represent smaller portions of the population (e.g., union members, manufacturing workers). We conduct a detailed investigation of the politics of small business owners and offer new insight into the evolving role of education, class, and occupation in electoral politics. Leveraging diverse sources of data -- representative surveys from around the world, campaign finance records, voter files, and a first-of-its-kind, bespoke survey of small business owners -- we find consistent evidence that small business owners are more likely to identify with and vote for right-wing parties. We find that this tendency cannot be fully explained by factors that cause people to select into being small business owners. Rather, we identify a key operational channel: the experience of being a small business owner leads people to adopt conservative views on government regulation.
In the Eye of the Beholder: A “Fact Perceptions” Approach for Explaining Partisan Gaps in Gun Beliefs
Jason Silver & Eric Silver
Justice Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
We draw on a politically motivated reasoning framework to examine divergent “fact perceptions” about the effectiveness of defensive gun use among conservatives and liberals. This framework suggests that people seek to align their factual beliefs with their ideological identities, a tendency that should be stronger among people with more pronounced reasoning abilities. Using a national YouGov sample of 1,125 U.S. adults, we examined associations among political ideology, education, and beliefs about defensive gun use. Consistent with the politically motivated reasoning framework, liberal-conservative differences in beliefs about the effectiveness of guns were greater among the more educated. In exploratory supplemental analyses, we also found that liberal-conservative differences in gun ownership were greater among more educated partisans and could be explained by gun beliefs. Our results suggest that politically motivated reasoning contributes to “fact perceptions” regarding the effectiveness of defensive gun use, with potential implications for understanding liberal-conservative differences in gun ownership.
Individual differences in aesthetic experience point to the role of bodily awareness in political orientation
Leonardo Christov-Moore et al.
Political Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Aesthetic chills are a peak response characterized by shivers and goosebumps in response to stimuli such as music or speech. In a previous study of 2947 California participants, conservatives and liberals reported experiencing chills with similar frequency when exposed to prevalidated audiovisual stimuli, but conservatism was associated with more intense chills. The present preregistered study examines whether this correlation was due to religiosity and/or being among a cultural minority (conservative within a progressive context), by assaying matched politically diverse populations in California (n = 620) and Texas (n = 262) while testing for religiosity and interoceptive awareness, based on links between conservatism and disgust sensitivity. The originally observed positive correlation between chills intensity and conservatism was replicated, did not show an effect of location, and appears strongly mediated by trait absorption, religiosity, and prestimulus mood. Post hoc analyses of nonlinear trends suggested that interoceptive awareness and chills intensity covary with distance from the political center, that is, extremism, rather than conservatism per se. This work suggests that heightened physiological/visceral intensity of experience may partly underlie political extremism and supports the utility of aesthetic responses as a tool to identify and even alter belief structures, including those underlying political world views.
Reality Bites: Partisan Beliefs as Enforced Norms
Andrea Robbett & Peter Hans Matthews
Economic Journal, forthcoming
Abstract:
How do partisan social norms influence stated factual beliefs about politics? We report the results of two online experiments, conducted on the eve of the 2024 US election, in which participants evaluated factual political statements. In a motivating experiment, we first elicit social norms over reported beliefs and find that Democrats and Republicans identify divergent partisan norms over factual statements. In our main experiment, we find that these norms influence stated beliefs: Learning about which statements co-partisans believe are appropriate for the group and/or that co-partisans could punish or reward them both cause respondents’ factual statements to be less accurate and more in line with partisan biases.
Examining the Frequency and Characteristics of Politically Diverse Friendships
Angela Bahns
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The research explored the frequency of politically diverse friendships -- that is, those characterized by dissimilar political attitudes -- and their association with political outgroup attitudes and friendship quality. In two studies, 971 pairs of adult friends in the United States reported their political attitudes and affiliation, discussion of controversial political issues, comfort with political disagreement (CPD), friendship quality and attitudes toward political groups. Friendships between Democrats and Republicans were rare and the degree of political attitude dissimilarity within pairs was generally low. Multilevel models estimated the association that CPD and political attitude dissimilarity within pairs each have with political outgroup attitudes and friendship quality. Political attitude dissimilarity was associated with lower prejudice toward political outgroups, but also lower friendship quality. CPD was weakly associated with higher friendship quality.
How Liberal-Conservative Friendship Diversity Could Improve Interpolitical Relations in the United States
Kyle Anderson, Grace Flores-Robles & Daryl Wout
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using three online experimental studies of liberals and conservatives in the United States (N = 696), we explore whether an interaction partner’s political friendship diversity could reduce people’s experience of social identity threat. In the first two studies, liberal and conservative participants who were exposed to a political outgroup member with a politically diverse friendship network (vs. a politically homogeneous friendship network or control condition) had improved meta-perception concerns and increased friendship interest. In the third study, having a partner with a politically diverse network of friends, compared with the homogeneous condition, largely led liberal and conservative participants to have improved meta-perceptions, increased friendship interest, improved perceptions, increased interest in learning about their partner, believed their partner was more interested in learning about them, and lessened dehumanization of their interaction partner. This research suggests that interpolitical friendship diversity has the potential to improve interpolitical relations.
Defusing political animosity in the United States with a cooperative online quiz game
Lucas Woodley et al.
Nature Human Behaviour, August 2025, Pages 1631-1644
Abstract:
Rising political animosity threatens democracy in the United States and other nations. Previous research indicates that intergroup contact under favourable conditions can reduce animosity. Other research indicates that mutually beneficial cooperation is essential for maintaining complex social structures. Building on these ideas, we asked whether mutually beneficial cooperation can reduce animosity between opposing political party members and whether this is possible in an anonymous online context. We created an online quiz game, Tango (letstango.org), where Republicans and Democrats partner and communicate in real time. Across five experiments (N = 4,493, four preregistered), we find that an hour of gameplay with an outparty partner can reduce negative partisanship, with increased self-reported warmth, more equitable economic allocations and more favourable outparty meta-perceptions persisting for up to four months. Gameplay also improves democracy-related attitudes, with effects persisting for one week. The game receives high enjoyability ratings, which may increase motivation to engage with this intervention.
Leveraging motivations to curb misinformation: Self-affirmation reduces the appeal of political conspiracy theories
Camille Saucier, Christopher Calabrese & Nathan Walter
Journal of Media Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In an era where digital misinformation poses significant challenges to societal well-being, this study explores a novel approach to preserving information integrity by addressing the motivational underpinnings of conspiracy theory engagement. As conspiracy theories proliferate online, traditional fact-checking and debunking strategies often prove ineffective due to the self-reinforcing nature of conspiracy theories. This research investigates whether a priori self-affirmation interventions can reduce individuals’ propensity to engage with conspiracy theories by preemptively fulfilling the ego-protective function these theories often serve. Using a randomized experiment (N = 451), this study finds that participants who completed a self-affirmation task were less likely to read politicized conspiracy theories, and those who chose to read a conspiracy theory reported greater feelings of affirmation than those who did not. Thus, bolstering individuals’ self-integrity may offer an opportunity to mitigate the appeal of politicized conspiracy theories.