On the Individual Roots of Polarization: Combining Experiments and Modeling

Presentation Slides (PDF)

Abstract

Most of the sociophysical and Agent Based models of opinion dynamics attempting to describe polarization focus on social interactions. The internal mechanisms of the individual opinion changes are usually significantly simplified. One of the reasons for such simplification is that the actual mechanisms are not very well understood in social psychology. They depend heavily on the contexts, the individual mental and emotional state, communication media and multiple, often conflicting forces.The presentation is based on [1], in which we have set out to study two possible mechanisms influencing political polarization at an individual level. The first is the in-group praise, motivated by the desire to be accepted and recognized group members. The second is the out-group derogation, focusing not on the virtues of one’s own group, but on the deficiencies and errors of the opposition. These two mechanisms were studied experimentally and compared to the effects of evidence-based argumentation. The experiments were accompanied by a simple ABM model, in a rather unique process where both approaches augmented and developed each other. We shall discuss the potential use of the results in future ABM models that combine both the individual and social dynamics.

Relevant publications

[1] Wojcieszak, M. Sobkowicz, P. et al., 2021. What Information Drives Political Polarization? Comparing the Effects of In-group Praise, Out-group Derogation, and Evidence-based Communications on Polarization. The International Journal of Press/Politics, p.19401612211004418