Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity
Scholars warn that partisan divisions in the mass public threaten the health of American democracy. We conducted a megastudy (n = 32,059 participants) testing 25 treatments designed by academics and practitioners to reduce Americans' partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes. We find that many treatments reduced partisan animosity, most strongly by highlighting relatable sympathetic individuals with different political beliefs or by emphasizing common identities shared by rival partisans. We also identify several treatments that reduced support for undemocratic practices-most strongly by correcting misperceptions of rival partisans' views or highlighting the threat of democratic collapse-which shows that antidemocratic attitudes are not intractable. Taken together, the study's findings identify promising general strategies for reducing partisan division and improving democratic attitudes, shedding theoretical light on challenges facing American democracy.
Authors
- Jared Celniker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5123-8455)
- Matthew Levendusky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3295-1276)
- Michael M. Franz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5996-075X)
- Peter Felsman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8481-8592)
- Margarett Clapper
- James R. G. Kirk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6992-7443)
- Rebecca Littman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8119-0576)
- Alex Pentland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8053-9983)
- Luiza A Santos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7996-8580)
- Jan G. Voelkel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4275-9798)
- David S. Yeager (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8522-9503)
- John Kelly (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1441-5701)
- Robb Willer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3404-6472)
- Samantha L. Moore‐Berg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2972-2288)
- Mina Cikara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6612-4474)
- James Martherus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8285-3300)
- Dhaval Adjodah
- Kurt Gray (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5816-2676)
- Molly Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5868-8272)
- Nathan Ballantyne
- Kimberly C Doell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0043-9609)
- Sophia L. Pink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3546-2067)
- Lauren Alpert Maurer
- Erez Yoeli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8459-017X)
- Christopher J. Bryan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1582-4411)
- Levi Allen
- Michael H. Pasek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1393-1149)
- Sara Gifford
- Hanne K. Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2726-3439)
- Azim Shariff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4444-460X)
- Shiri Spitz Siddiqi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8863-8962)
- Michael N. Stagnaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5512-7218)
- Cameron A. Hecht (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4842-6003)
- Colleen M. Seifert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5889-5167)
- Jamil Zaki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0664-2982)
- Julia A. Minson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9150-8509)
- Emily Kubin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0606-8594)
- Kara Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8664-0900)
- Joseph S. Mernyk
- Roman A. Gallardo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3601-1225)
- Charles Dorison (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7072-2530)
- Macrina C Dieffenbach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6396-7484)
- Hayley Blunden (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1963-9635)
- Michael Tomz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0453-024X)
- David G. Rand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8975-2783)
- Gina Baleria (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4959-2401)
- Daniela Goya‐Tocchetto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5760-1702)
- Chrystal Redekopp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0538-574X)
- Jay Rosato
- Steve Rathje (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6727-571X)
- Jeffrey Martin Lees (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6030-4207)
- Joshua D. Greene (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3451-2966)
- N. Kay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0166-9158)
- James Druckman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1249-6790)
- Maya Fiorella
- Maytal Saar‐Tsechansky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2400-3762)
- Ali Javeed
- Matthew Cashman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1041-6128)
- Malka Kopell
- Brandyn Keating
- Otto Simonsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4197-7566)
- Alia Braley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6188-8299)
- Daniel Stone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6647-8096)
- Wayde Marsh
- Evan DeFilippis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9757-4374)
- John T. Jost (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2844-4645)
- Mylien T. Duong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9648-3518)
- Palma Strand (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0508-6483)
- Isaias Ghezae (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8656-7590)
- Benjamin Lyons (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7096-900X)
- Aaron C. Kay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-0987)
- Nour Kteily (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4331-4037)
- Joe Green (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2840-6769)
- Matthew E. K. Hall (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0802-0415)
- Aaron Lyles
- Hossein Rahnama
- Curtis Puryear (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6067-4654)
- Katherine Clayton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-5230)
- Mertcan Güngör
- Gabriel Lenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7844-6027)
- James C.H. Chu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1858-058X)
- Caroline Mehl
- D. Francis
- Jay J. Van Bavel
- L. Victor Allis
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Published
- 2024-10-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.17615/vhy6-wz52
- Primary Topic
- Evaluation and Performance Assessment
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Fetzer Institute
- Ford Motor Company
- Northwestern University
- U.S. Navy
- Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
- Office of Naval Research