Political Incivility, Threat, and Polarized Politics
Partner Event: Political Incivility, Threat, and Polarized Politics
Hosted By: UCI Center for Neuropolitics
Location: Virtual
Date: May 9, 2025 at Noon PT
From the Organizers:
What are the consequences of the lack of civility in political discourse? Prior work has come to conflicting conclusions: some studies have found evidence of polarizing effects, while other work has found evidence of depolarizing effects. Theory in social and political psychology suggests that the ability of partisan incivility to aggravate polarization is conditional on the presence of threat to group status. Social neuroscience research demonstrates that reducing partisans' sense of threat may reduce both polarization and the appeal of incivility. These results have implications for addressing political polarization both within and beyond the American context.