The Devil You (Expect to) Know: Political Polarization
In his final speech in office, President Obama remarked on the growing level of extreme polarization, particularly in online interactions, by telling those in attendance “[i]f you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life.” As the rise of social media has highlighted (if not exacerbated) political divides in modern society — enabling us to seek echo chambers among those with whom we agree, and to antagonize our adversaries from the relative security of a world mediated by screens — the President’s advice seemed to point to some deeper truth of human interaction: it is harder to demonize someone we know.
"“[i]f you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life.”"
References
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[1] Or, as some scholars cite it, with Fechner (1876) or Titchener (1910)
About the Author
Andrew Lewis
Andrew is a writer and behavioral scientist focused on belief construction and how people evaluate new information. He is a PhD candidate in Politics at the University of Oxford, and a doctoral researcher at its Centre for Experimental Social Science (CESS). He was previously at Carnegie Mellon University where he worked at the BEDR Policy Lab and Center for Behavioral and Decision Research (CBDR), and was a research and teaching assistant to George Loewenstein.
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