Reducing partisan divide alone does not boost support for democracy, study finds
(2022/11/02)
- Reference: 1667426409
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/11/02/us_partisan_democracy_research/
- Source link:
Researchers have found that working to reduce emotional partisan attitudes across the US political divide does not reduce anti-democratic tendencies.
In a [1]study published in Nature Human Behaviour this week, social scientists claim that depolarization interventions have no measurable effect on reducing anti-democratic attitudes including support for undemocratic candidates, support for partisan violence or prioritizing partisan ends over democratic means.
Through social media, internet-based technologies have over 10 years or more seemed to [2]play a role in increasing political polarization and partisanship , in part through the promotion of influencer views. Gone are the early days of the world wide web, when enthusiasts assumed it would bring people together and fuel greater political participation.
[3]
"Research shows that contemporary US politics is characterized by growing affective polarization [the tendency for partisans to dislike and distrust those from the other party]. Notably, not only academics but also a large majority of Americans believe the country is extremely divided and view this division as a serious problem," the study said.
[4]
[5]
"It's presumed negative consequences may be uniquely harmful or destabilizing for democratic societies, for example, by stimulating support for undemocratic candidates and practices, or by fomenting political violence."
Although a body of research has pointed toward effective methods in reducing polarized partisan attitudes, the assumed benefit of increasing support for democracy had not been measured.
[6]Elon Musk shows what being Chief Twit is all about across weird weekend
[7]Meta fined record-breaking $24.6m for deliberately ignoring political ad law
[8]US net neutrality bill is only two pages long. And that's potentially a good thing
[9]FCC chair wishes for 100Mbps down, 20Mbps up broadband minimum in US
A team led by Jan Voelkel, Stanford University PhD student, carried out a battery of experimental tests on 8,385 subjects, measuring the effectiveness of three previously established depolarization interventions: correcting misperceptions of people outside the partisan group; priming inter-partisan friendships; and observing warm cross-partisan interactions between political leaders.
Although the result showed these techniques did indeed help reduce negative attitudes between partisan groups, they did not reduce anti-democratic tendencies.
[10]
"Our findings call into question whether depolarization interventions developed to reduce affective polarization also reduce anti-democratic attitudes," the paper said. "Across three experiments, we successfully replicate previous research, finding that three depolarization interventions reliably reduced self-reported affective polarization… Critically, however, the depolarization interventions did not reliably reduce any of three measures of anti-democratic attitudes: support for undemocratic candidates, support for partisan violence, and prioritizing partisan ends over democratic means."
The authors said that any future work should avoid making assumptions about any consequences of reducing partisan division among the US population.
"Researchers and practitioners who are interested in interventions targeting anti-democratic attitudes… should not focus on treating affective polarization and begin developing more direct interventions – trends that run counter to most current work," they said.
[11]
The US mid-terms are scheduled for next week, giving an opportunity to 250 million Americans that are eligible to vote to express their view of the Biden administration, and provide clarity on the Republicans can retake control of the House of Representativers and the Senate. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01466-9
[2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-social-media-makes-us-more-polarized-and-how-to-fix-it/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/31/elon_musk_chief_twit_acts/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/28/meta_fined_246m_political_ads/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/net_neutrality_and_broadband_justice_act/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/fcc_broadband_minimum_proposed/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In a [1]study published in Nature Human Behaviour this week, social scientists claim that depolarization interventions have no measurable effect on reducing anti-democratic attitudes including support for undemocratic candidates, support for partisan violence or prioritizing partisan ends over democratic means.
Through social media, internet-based technologies have over 10 years or more seemed to [2]play a role in increasing political polarization and partisanship , in part through the promotion of influencer views. Gone are the early days of the world wide web, when enthusiasts assumed it would bring people together and fuel greater political participation.
[3]
"Research shows that contemporary US politics is characterized by growing affective polarization [the tendency for partisans to dislike and distrust those from the other party]. Notably, not only academics but also a large majority of Americans believe the country is extremely divided and view this division as a serious problem," the study said.
[4]
[5]
"It's presumed negative consequences may be uniquely harmful or destabilizing for democratic societies, for example, by stimulating support for undemocratic candidates and practices, or by fomenting political violence."
Although a body of research has pointed toward effective methods in reducing polarized partisan attitudes, the assumed benefit of increasing support for democracy had not been measured.
[6]Elon Musk shows what being Chief Twit is all about across weird weekend
[7]Meta fined record-breaking $24.6m for deliberately ignoring political ad law
[8]US net neutrality bill is only two pages long. And that's potentially a good thing
[9]FCC chair wishes for 100Mbps down, 20Mbps up broadband minimum in US
A team led by Jan Voelkel, Stanford University PhD student, carried out a battery of experimental tests on 8,385 subjects, measuring the effectiveness of three previously established depolarization interventions: correcting misperceptions of people outside the partisan group; priming inter-partisan friendships; and observing warm cross-partisan interactions between political leaders.
Although the result showed these techniques did indeed help reduce negative attitudes between partisan groups, they did not reduce anti-democratic tendencies.
[10]
"Our findings call into question whether depolarization interventions developed to reduce affective polarization also reduce anti-democratic attitudes," the paper said. "Across three experiments, we successfully replicate previous research, finding that three depolarization interventions reliably reduced self-reported affective polarization… Critically, however, the depolarization interventions did not reliably reduce any of three measures of anti-democratic attitudes: support for undemocratic candidates, support for partisan violence, and prioritizing partisan ends over democratic means."
The authors said that any future work should avoid making assumptions about any consequences of reducing partisan division among the US population.
"Researchers and practitioners who are interested in interventions targeting anti-democratic attitudes… should not focus on treating affective polarization and begin developing more direct interventions – trends that run counter to most current work," they said.
[11]
The US mid-terms are scheduled for next week, giving an opportunity to 250 million Americans that are eligible to vote to express their view of the Biden administration, and provide clarity on the Republicans can retake control of the House of Representativers and the Senate. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01466-9
[2] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-social-media-makes-us-more-polarized-and-how-to-fix-it/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/31/elon_musk_chief_twit_acts/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/28/meta_fined_246m_political_ads/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/28/net_neutrality_and_broadband_justice_act/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/18/fcc_broadband_minimum_proposed/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y2L2i2M5HuWnA6nUz2ydgQAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Glad to see researchers finnally pulling their noses up.
blackcat
You know something is very wrong when someone can write a book called 'in defence of looting' and gets put on a pedestal by the media but someone who writes a book about not irreversibly damaging your children with hormones or surgery gets un-personed.
We also have this:
https://twitter.com/kai_newkirk/status/1587817896453054465
To which someone replied "YES! Direct action works!!!"
But if the direct action is done by the wrong people it is very very VERY bad.
Apply rules evenly without political or any other bias or do not apply them AT ALL.
Glad to see researchers finnally pulling their noses up.
It's been clear for quite a while that our problems extend beyond polarization, and that the casual and comfortable way people ignore corruption and misinformation on their own side has largely been ignored. Unless predatory actions have prompt consequences, you see an onset of looter psychology, where the social norm flips from an expectation to follow the law to an expectation to break it. When people across the aisle break the rules, they jump up demand justice, but if their own side does, they first look the other way, then as it gets worse, egg them on.
That's the idea we need to rip out by the root, that we can fail to hold our own side accountable and not pay the price for it. That won't get fixed by people sitting around singing Kumbaya, ever. People might take it more seriously if you point out that they are ankle deep in shit that came from someone on their own side, and pretty much every aspect of their lives would be better if they forced their own side to get their act together. In the absence of that simple notion, politics has been a race to the bottom where the dysfunction in politics and influencer culture has spilled into every sector of modern life.
I don't think you all are going to make it. If you don't I probably won't either. I can't change what you believe our how you act, I can only point at the cliff and say I told you so. I can point at the people trying to drag us over that cliff, but I can't stop them on my own. I have started doing as much as I can to oppose those are trying to cash in on making things worse. Feel free to join in any time now. Because it will be a whole lot worse if they get their way for the next couple years.
Or don't, the universe doesn't care, it will still be here if I'm gone. But don't think that it's going to be a party all the way down, we are already past the fun part, the next chapter is all about the consequences.