Exaggerated meta-perceptions predict intergroup hostility between American political partisans

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Samantha L Moore-BergEmile Bruneau

Abstract

People's actions toward a competitive outgroup can be motivated not only by their perceptions of the outgroup, but also by how they think the outgroup perceives the ingroup (i.e., meta-perceptions). Here, we examine the prevalence, accuracy, and consequences of meta-perceptions among American political partisans. Using a representative sample (n = 1,056) and a longitudinal convenience sample (n = 2,707), we find that Democrats and Republicans equally dislike and dehumanize each other but think that the levels of prejudice and dehumanization held by the outgroup party are approximately twice as strong as actually reported by a representative sample of Democrats and Republicans. Overestimations of negative meta-perceptions were consistent across samples over time and between demographic subgroups but were modulated by political ideology: More strongly liberal Democrats and more strongly conservative Republicans were particularly prone to exaggerate meta-perceptions. Finally, we show that meta-prejudice and meta-dehumanization are independently associated with the desire for social distance from members of the outgroup party and support for policies that harm the country and flout democratic norms to favor the ingroup political pa...Continue Reading

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Aug 30, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Christopher A BailAlexander Volfovsky

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Citations

Nov 4, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Samantha L Moore-BergEmily B Falk
Feb 23, 2021·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jeffrey Lees, Mina Cikara
Apr 24, 2021·Nature Human Behaviour·Kai RuggeriTomas Folke
Jul 14, 2021·Current Opinion in Psychology·Philip M Fernbach, Leaf Van Boven
Aug 6, 2021·Current Opinion in Psychology·Kristin DonnellyClayton R Critcher
Aug 15, 2021·Science Advances·William J BradyMolly J Crockett

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