Researchers show interventions to reduce hostility only have short-term impact and there is no ‘magical fix’
Efforts to reduce the hostility people feel towards rival political parties can result in small changes – but such effects largely evaporate within two weeks, researchers have found.
The team behind the work, which explored the impact of interventions ranging from correcting common misperceptions of the other side to enabling contact between political opponents, say their results suggest fresh approaches are needed to tackle what some have labelled the “age of rage”.
“There is no magical fix for our political divides,” said Prof Sean Westwood, the co-author of the research from Dartmouth College in the US. “To rebuild our democracy, we must commit to the long-term process of supporting policy focused candidates, resisting the hatred that flourishes on social media, and restoring the integrity of our federal government,” he added. “This sounds challenging, and it is, but we have done it before.”
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in the US report how they analysed 25 previously published studies, largely US-focused, that explored 77 different approaches to reducing partisan animosity.
