Puryear, C., et al. (2024).
PNAS Nexus, 3(7).
https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae244
Abstract
Efforts to bridge political divides often focus on navigating complex and divisive issues, but eight studies reveal that we should also focus on a more basic misperception: that political opponents are willing to accept basic moral wrongs. In the United States, Democrats, and Republicans overestimate the number of political outgroup members who approve of blatant immorality (e.g. child pornography, embezzlement). This “basic morality bias” is tied to political dehumanization and is revealed by multiple methods, including natural language analyses from a large social media corpus and a survey with a representative sample of Americans. Importantly, the basic morality bias can be corrected with a brief, scalable intervention. Providing information that just one political opponent condemns blatant wrongs increases willingness to work with political opponents and substantially decreases political dehumanization.
Significance Statement
The United States is witnessing historic levels of political hostility and gridlock. This animosity is partly grounded in misperceptions of opponents’ political beliefs, but we find many Americans overestimate political opponents’ willingness to accept even the most basic moral wrongs. These findings suggest individuals and practitioners working to foster cross-partisan interaction might first correct this basic morality bias. Specifically, we show that learning a single opponent condemns basic moral wrongs increases behavioral engagement with political opponents and decreases dehumanization of the entire political outgroup.
Here are some thoughts:
Political divides in the US are fueled by a surprising misunderstanding: people believe their opponents are okay with terrible things like child pornography or embezzlement. This isn't true, but many people think it is, and this perception makes them dislike and dehumanize the other side. There's good news though - we can fix this misunderstanding. Studies show that simply reminding people that their opponents share basic moral values, like opposing these awful acts, can lead them to be more willing to work together and see each other as human. This approach seems even more effective than just giving people facts about the other side's beliefs. There are still questions about how long this positive effect lasts and if it works outside the US, but correcting this basic morality bias holds promise for bridging the political divide and fostering more productive conversations.
