Abstract

Political polarization undermines trust, social connection, and willingness to engage with people who hold different political beliefs. One reason may be that people anticipate little possibility of mutual understanding, or shared reality, before interaction begins. We describe this process as anticipatory ideological filtering: using political identity to infer whether another person is likely to share one’s worldview. Our preliminary research indicates that political similarity shapes expectations of shared reality more strongly than race, gender, age, or personal preferences. Across four studies, we will develop and test brief interventions designed to reduce this barrier. We will identify common-identity and common-experience messages that increase expected shared reality with politically dissimilar others, test whether these effects arise because the interventions reduce the perceived diagnosticity of political identity, determine whether improved expectations produce more constructive conversations, and pilot the strongest intervention in consultation with UCLA’s Dialogue Across Difference Initiative. Outcomes will include trust, empathy, curiosity, rapport, active listening, perceived understanding, interest in future contact, and behavioral and linguistic indicators of constructive engagement. The project will produce a scalable preparation module and practical guidance for organizations seeking to foster dialogue and social connection across political differences.

Field

Communications

Team

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