Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity

Jan G Voelkel; Michael N Stagnaro; James Y Chu; Sophia L Pink; Joseph S Mernyk; Chrystal Redekopp; Isaias Ghezae; Matthew Cashman; Dhaval Adjodah; Levi G Allen; L Victor Allis; Gina Baleria; Nathan Ballantyne; Jay J Van Bavel; Hayley Blunden; Alia Braley; Christopher J Bryan; Jared B Celniker; Mina Cikara; Margarett V Clapper; Katherine Clayton; Hanne Collins; Evan DeFilippis; Macrina Dieffenbach; Kimberly C Doell; Charles Dorison; Mylien Duong; Peter Felsman; Maya Fiorella; David Francis; Michael Franz; Roman A Gallardo; Sara Gifford; Daniela Goya-Tocchetto; Kurt Gray; Joe Green; Joshua Greene; Mertcan Güngör; Matthew Hall; Cameron A Hecht; Ali Javeed; John T Jost; Aaron C Kay; Nick R Kay; Brandyn Keating; John Michael Kelly; James R G Kirk; Malka Kopell; Nour Kteily; Emily Kubin; Jeffrey Lees; Gabriel Lenz; Matthew Levendusky; Rebecca Littman; Kara Luo; Aaron Lyles; Ben Lyons; Wayde Marsh; James Martherus; Lauren Alpert Maurer; Caroline Mehl; Julia Minson; Molly Moore; Samantha L Moore-Berg; Michael H Pasek; Alex Pentland; Curtis Puryear; Hossein Rahnama; Steve Rathje; Jay Rosato; Maytal Saar-Tsechansky; Luiza Almeida Santos; Colleen M Seifert; Azim Shariff; Otto Simonsson; Shiri Spitz Siddiqi; Daniel F Stone; Palma Strand; Michael Tomz; David S Yeager; Erez Yoeli; Jamil Zaki; James N Druckman; David G Rand; Robb Willer

doi:10.1126/science.adh4764

Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity

Science. 2024 Oct 18;386(6719):eadh4764. doi: 10.1126/science.adh4764. Epub 2024 Oct 18.

Authors

Jan G Voelkel^#¹, Michael N Stagnaro^#², James Y Chu^#³, Sophia L Pink⁴, Joseph S Mernyk⁵, Chrystal Redekopp⁵, Isaias Ghezae⁶, Matthew Cashman², Dhaval Adjodah⁷, Levi G Allen⁸, L Victor Allis⁹, Gina Baleria^{10

11}, Nathan Ballantyne¹², Jay J Van Bavel^{13

14}, Hayley Blunden¹⁵, Alia Braley¹⁶, Christopher J Bryan¹⁷, Jared B Celniker¹², Mina Cikara⁶, Margarett V Clapper¹⁸, Katherine Clayton¹⁹, Hanne Collins²⁰, Evan DeFilippis²⁰, Macrina Dieffenbach²¹, Kimberly C Doell^{13

22}, Charles Dorison²³, Mylien Duong²¹, Peter Felsman²⁴, Maya Fiorella^{10

11}, David Francis²⁵, Michael Franz²⁶, Roman A Gallardo²⁷, Sara Gifford⁹, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto²⁸, Kurt Gray²⁹, Joe Green³⁰, Joshua Greene⁶, Mertcan Güngör³¹, Matthew Hall³², Cameron A Hecht³³, Ali Javeed¹³, John T Jost¹³, Aaron C Kay²⁸, Nick R Kay³⁰, Brandyn Keating³⁴, John Michael Kelly³¹, James R G Kirk³², Malka Kopell¹⁰, Nour Kteily³⁵, Emily Kubin^{29

36}, Jeffrey Lees³⁷, Gabriel Lenz¹⁶, Matthew Levendusky³⁸, Rebecca Littman³⁹, Kara Luo⁴⁰, Aaron Lyles⁴¹, Ben Lyons⁴², Wayde Marsh⁴³, James Martherus⁴⁴, Lauren Alpert Maurer²¹, Caroline Mehl²¹, Julia Minson⁴⁵, Molly Moore⁴⁶, Samantha L Moore-Berg⁴⁷, Michael H Pasek^{39

48}, Alex Pentland⁴⁹, Curtis Puryear³⁵, Hossein Rahnama⁵⁰, Steve Rathje¹³, Jay Rosato⁴¹, Maytal Saar-Tsechansky¹⁷, Luiza Almeida Santos⁵¹, Colleen M Seifert⁵², Azim Shariff⁵³, Otto Simonsson⁵⁴, Shiri Spitz Siddiqi³¹, Daniel F Stone⁵⁵, Palma Strand^{10

56

57}, Michael Tomz^{19

58}, David S Yeager⁵⁹, Erez Yoeli², Jamil Zaki⁵¹, James N Druckman⁶⁰, David G Rand², Robb Willer⁵

Affiliations

¹ Brooks School of Public Policy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
² Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
³ Department of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
⁴ Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁵ Department of Sociology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁷ MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
⁸ Department of Political Science, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA.
⁹ ActiVote, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
¹⁰ Civity, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA.
¹¹ Department of Communication and Media Studies, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA 94928, USA.
¹² School of Historical, Philosophical, and Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Strategy & Management, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, 5045, Norway.
¹⁵ Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, DC 20016, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹⁷ McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78705, USA.
¹⁸ College of Liberal Arts, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
²⁰ Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02163, USA.
²¹ Constructive Dialogue Institute, New York, NY 10016, USA.
²² Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, 78464, Germany.
²³ McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
²⁴ Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work and Criminal Justice, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA.
²⁵ Information Technology, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA.
²⁶ Department of Government and Legal Studies, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA.
²⁷ The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
²⁸ Fuqua School for Business, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
²⁹ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
³⁰ Centre for Applied Moral Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
³¹ Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA.
³² Department of Political Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
³³ Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.
³⁴ YOUnify, Salt Lake City, UT 84106, USA.
³⁵ Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
³⁶ Department of Psychology, Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau in der Pfalz, 76829, Germany.
³⁷ Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, University of Groningen, Groningen, 9747 AE, Netherlands.
³⁸ Department of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
³⁹ Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
⁴⁰ Center for International Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁴¹ CommonAlly, Washington, DC 20036, USA.
⁴² Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
⁴³ Department of Political Science, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37916, USA.
⁴⁴ Morning Consult, Washington, DC 20004, USA.
⁴⁵ Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
⁴⁶ Department of Economics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63105, USA.
⁴⁷ Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
⁴⁸ Beyond Conflict, Boston, MA 02116, USA.
⁴⁹ Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵⁰ School of Media, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada.
⁵¹ Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵² Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
⁵³ Department of Psychology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
⁵⁴ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Solna, 171 65, Sweden.
⁵⁵ Department of Economics, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME 04011, USA.
⁵⁶ Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Program, Creighton University, Omaha, NE 68178, USA.
⁵⁷ Marquette University Law School, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USA.
⁵⁸ Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵⁹ Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
⁶⁰ Department of Political Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 39418366
DOI: 10.1126/science.adh4764

Abstract

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.