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- Title
Intellectual Humility and Political Polarization: An Exploration of Social Networks, Attitudes, and Affect.
- Authors
Sgambati, Tyrone J.; Ayduk, Ozlem N.
- Abstract
Political polarization is increasing in the United States, threatening social harmony. As this threat grows, it is important to identify factors that engender polarization and ways to disrupt them. To this end, we examined the buffering role of intellectual humility against political polarization and the potential mediating role of political heterophily (i.e., affiliation and communication with political outgroup members). Data were collected in five assessments over an eight‐month period, beginning one day prior to the 2020 U.S. presidential election (N = 387) and ending in July 2021 (N = 181). Results showed that intellectual humility was associated with (1) less affective and attitudinal polarization (although in some cases this effect was only present among conservatives) and (2) more political heterophily. Cross‐sectional and prospective mediation analyses suggested that intellectual humility may act through political heterophily to reduce attitude polarization. Our findings offer support for the notion that intellectual humility buffers against political polarization and provide preliminary evidence for political heterophily as one mechanism of action.
- Subjects
UNITED States; HUMILITY; POLARIZATION (Social sciences); UNITED States presidential election, 2020; UNITED States presidential elections; SOCIAL networks; OUTGROUPS (Social groups)
- Publication
Political Psychology, 2023, Vol 44, Issue 4, p807
- ISSN
0162-895X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/pops.12890