The DOI matches its Crossref record; 78 of the 79 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity
Open accessPreprint — published as 10.1126/science.adh4764 · Paper page
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.
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“While there is no direct evidence linking ideological extremity to antidemocratic behaviors among elites, there does exist such evidence among citizens (e.g., Graham & Svolik, 2020;Voelkel, Stagnaro, et al., 2023).”
From How to study democratic backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Voelkel, Stagnaro, et al., 2023
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“Voelkel, Chu, et al. (2023) arrive at similar conclusions (cf.Holliday et al., 2023;Kingzette et al., 2021).”
From How to study democratic backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Voelkel, Chu, et al. (2023)
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“A large research agenda has developed and tested behavioral interventions aimed at countering polarization or antidemocratic attitudes among the public (e.g., Hartman et al., 2023;Voelkel, Stagnaro, et al., 2023).”
From How to study democratic backsliding (2024) · cites this paper as Voelkel, Stagnaro, et al., 2023
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Why voters who value democracy participate in democratic backsliding
Braley, A., Lenz, G. S., Adjodah, D., Rahnama, H., & Pentland, A. (2023) · Nature Human Behaviour · doi:10.1038/s41562-023-01594-w · Cited by 138
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Sultan, M., Tump, A. N., Ehmann, N., Lorenz-Spreen, P., Hertwig, R., Gollwitzer, A., & Kurvers, R. H. J. M. (2024) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2409329121 · Cited by 130
How to study democratic backsliding
Druckman, J. N. (2024) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12942 · Cited by 56
Self-citationThe Algorithmic Management of Polarization and Violence on Social MediaPreprint
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Metadata
- Authors
- Voelkel, J. G., Stagnaro, M., Chu, J., Pink, S. L., Mernyk, J. S., Redekopp, C., Ghezae, I., Cashman, M., Adjodah, D., Allen, L., Allis, V., Baleria, G., Ballantyne, N., Van Bavel, J. J., Blunden, H., Braley, A., Bryan, C., Celniker, J., Cikara, M., Clapper, M., Clayton, K., Collins, H. K., D, E., DIEFFENBACH, M., Doell, K. C., Dorison, C., Duong, M., Felsman, P., Fiorella, M., Francis, D., Franz, M. M., Gallardo, R., Gifford, S., Goya-Tocchetto, D., Gray, K., Green, J., Greene, J. D., Güngör, M., Hall, M., Hecht, C., Javeed, A., Jost, J., Kay, A., Kay, N., Keating, B., Kelly, J. M., Kirk, J., Kopell, M., Kteily, N., Kubin, E., Lees, J. M., Lenz, G., Levendusky, M., Littman, R., Luo, K., Lyles, A., Lyons, B., Marsh, W., Martherus, J., Maurer, L. A., Mehl, C., Minson, J. A., Moore, M., Moore-Berg, S., Pasek, M. H., Pentland, A., Puryear, C., Rahnama, H., Rathje, S., Rosato, J., Saar-Tsechansky, M., Santos, L., Seifert, C., Shariff, A., Simonsson, O., Spitz Siddiqi, S., Stone, D., Strand, P., Tomz, M., Yeager, D. S., Yoeli, E., zaki, J., Druckman, J., Rand, D. G., & Willer, R.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Columbia University (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- MIT Media Lab (US)
- Indiana State University (US)
- Sonoma State University (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- American University (US)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- UCLA
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Oakland University (US)
- Bowdoin College (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Duke University
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- University of Rochester (US)
- New York University (US)
- Duke University (US)
- Northwestern University (US)
- University of Groningen (NL)
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Toronto Metropolitan University (CA)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Marquette University (US)
- Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (US)
- Corresponding author
- Voelkel, Jan G.
- Stagnaro, Michael
- Chu, James
- Willer, Robb
- ORCID
- Voelkel, Jan G.
- Stagnaro, Michael
- Chu, James
- Pink, Sophia Lerner
- Mernyk, Joseph S.
- Redekopp, Chrystal
- Ghezae, Isaias
- Cashman, Matthew
- Adjodah, Dhaval
- Allen, Levi
- Baleria, Gina
- Van Bavel, Jay Joseph
- Blunden, Hayley
- Braley, Alia
- Bryan, Christopher
- Celniker, Jared
- Cikara, Mina
- Clapper, Margarett
- Clayton, Katherine
- Collins, Hanne K.
- DIEFFENBACH, MACRINA
- Doell, Kimberly C
- Dorison, Charles
- Felsman, Peter
- Francis, David
- Franz, Michael M.
- Gallardo, Roman
- Gifford, Sara
- Goya-Tocchetto, Daniela
- Gray, Kurt
- Green, Joe
- Greene, Joshua D.
- Güngör, Mertcan
- Hall, Matthew
- Hecht, Cameron
- Jost, John
- Kay, Aaron
- Kay, Nicholas
- Keating, Brandyn
- Kelly, John Michael
- Kirk, James
- Kopell, Malka
- Kteily, Nour
- Kubin, Emily
- Lees, Jeffrey Martin
- Lenz, Gabriel
- Levendusky, Matt
- Littman, Rebecca
- Luo, Kara
- Lyons, Benjamin
- Marsh, Wayde
- Martherus, James
- Maurer, Lauren Alpert
- Mehl, Caroline
- Minson, Julia A.
- Moore, Molly
- Moore-Berg, Samantha
- Pasek, Michael H.
- Pentland, Alex
- Puryear, Curtis
- Rathje, Steve
- Rosato, Jay
- Santos, Luiza
- Seifert, Colleen
- Shariff, Azim
- Simonsson, Otto
- Spitz Siddiqi, Shiri
- Stone, Daniel
- Strand, Palma
- Tomz, Michael
- Yeager, David Scott
- Yoeli, Erez
- zaki, jamil
- Druckman, James
- Rand, David Gertler
- Willer, Robb
- Venue
- Science
- Publisher
- Center for Open Science
- Published
- 2023-03-20
- Volume
- 386
- Issue
- 6719
- Pages
- eadh4764-eadh4764
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4403510391
- Cited by
- 174
- References
- 79
- Citations by year
- 2026: 78 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 14
- FWCI
- 254.07
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (acceptedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- OSF Preprints (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Fetzer Institute
- Ford Motor Company
- Northwestern University
- U.S. Navy
- Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
- Office of Naval Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- partisan animosity, partisan divisions, democratic attitudes, political polarization, common identity, collapse of democracy
- MeSH terms
- Attitude, Democracy, Female, Humans, Male, Politics, Public Opinion, United States
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