We choose ignorance as we age – even when knowledge is more useful. Younger kids sought out knowledge, while by age 7 they became information-avoidant if answers may evoke negative emotion. In adulthood, information avoidance is common and may "deepen political polarization or ideological rigidity." 🧠📚🔍💔

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#KnowledgeIsPower #InformationAvoidance #EmotionalIntelligence #PoliticalPolarization #LifelongLearning

Americans’ attitudes toward immigration shaped not only by culture or economy but also by how immigrants vote. When Americans were told that certain immigrant groups favored Donald Trump and Republican Party, Republicans became more supportive of immigration, while Democrats less supportive. 🇺🇸🗳️🤝

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#ImmigrationAttitudes #VotingTrends #PoliticalPolarization #CulturalInfluence #RepublicanSupport

A 10-year study finds that romantic partners gradually shape each other’s political party preferences 👫❤️ — when one partner’s support for a party rises or falls 📈📉, the other tends to follow the next year, a dynamic that may help explain political alignment and polarization.

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#PoliticalAlignment #RomanticPartners #PoliticalPolarization #CouplesInfluence #RelationshipDynamics

Feelings of deprivation push Germans to the right but Americans to the left. Different political and social structures may explain the divergent findings. Germany has extensive public social benefits. In the US, by contrast, demands for government to alleviate hardships are traditionally left-wing. 🇩🇪➡️➡️➡️🇺🇸💼📊

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#PoliticalPolarization #SocialBenefits #DeprivationTheory #GermanyVsUSA #LeftRightDivide

Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation. 📈🗳️ Study finds that a week of political content can bring about a shift in views that previously would have taken three years. ⏳🧠

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#PoliticalPolarization #SocialMediaInfluence #ForYouFeed #ContentImpact #DigitalDemocracy

The algorithmic feed on X could be shifting political views toward conservatism. Research found accounts using the 'For You' feed saw more change toward conservative political opinions and priorities, particularly around policy, criminal investigations into Donald Trump and the war in Ukraine

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#AlgorithmicFeed #ConservativeShift #ForYouInsights #PoliticalPolarization #SocialMediaResearch

Research found individuals who identify as politically conservative were more likely to express skepticism about clinical trials than those with moderate or liberal ideologies. This pattern is consistent with broader polarization in trust toward scientific institutions and government health agencies

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#ScienceCommunication #PublicHealthTrust #PoliticalPolarization

Losing relationships over politics. Research found more than a third of Americans (37%) report having lost at least one relationship due to political differences, including friendships, family ties, coworker relationships, and romantic partnerships, with most losing more than one.

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#PoliticsAndRelationships #PoliticalPolarization #SocialScienceInsights

💔 A new UC Irvine study reveals "political breakups" are increasing, with over a third of Americans losing relationships (friends, family, partners, coworkers) due to political differences. Friends are most vulnerable.

📈 The trend is accelerating, with political breakups surpassing the 2016 election rate in half the time for the 2024 election.

📊 Democrats report higher rates of political breakups (47%) than Republicans (29%), and are more likely to initiate these splits (66% vs. 27%).

😠 Those experiencing political breakups show increased hostility toward political opponents, viewing them as more extreme.

#PoliticalPolarization #SocialDivides #USPolitics

Most Americans, whether on the right or left, claim to support freedom of speech. However, survey experiments show that after President Trump began explicitly calling for speech restrictions, Trump voters became increasingly supportive of government censorship of outparty media and individuals.

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#FreeSpeech #CensorshipDebate #PoliticalPolarization

🗳️ A new study in the American Behavioral Scientist reveals American voters judge Democratic and Republican communication styles unequally, with Donald Trump facing significantly more rejection from rival voters than Kamala Harris.

📊 Research surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults on October 13, 2024, assessing their tolerance for candidates' communication styles. Findings show Republican voters are generally more tolerant of Democratic communication than Democrats are of Republican communication.

📈 Kamala Harris received significantly higher acceptance and tolerance from both her supporters and rival voters compared to Donald Trump. 86% of Democratic voters accepted Harris's style, while 72% of Republican voters accepted Trump's.

💔 The study highlights "affective polarization," where voters emotionally dislike opposing sides. Intolerance of communication style can erode democratic frameworks and the common political ground necessary for a healthy society.

#PoliticalPolarization #USPolitics #Communication

A new study of interpretations of Trump’s and Harris’ statements among Republican and Democrat voters suggests that we may arrive at different conclusions from the same statement, depending on who the speaker is and how much trust we grant them.

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#PoliticalPolarization #TrustInMedia #VoterPerceptions

🌍 Study reveals elected representatives are significantly more polarized on climate change than the general public.

📊 The gap in views between left- and right-wing politicians on human-caused climate change is nearly three times wider than that between voters of opposing political leanings.

🗣️ This widening ideological divide, particularly at the political fringes, can create a "gap in representation," making it harder to implement climate policy as politicians' views may not align with their constituents.

#ClimateChange #PoliticalPolarization #ScienceCommunication

Losing an election is associated with lower social trust among polarized voters. Following a national election, voters whose preferred political party loses tend to experience a noticeable decline in their generalized trust of other people in society.

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#PoliticalPolarization #ElectionImpact #SocialTrust

AI acts as an ‘ideological chameleon’ and may deepen political polarization, study finds. Researchers evaluated 21 language models, such as GPT and Gemini, and found that they all alter their discourse to align with the user’s bias, potentially functioning as echo chambers.

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#AIethics #PoliticalPolarization #LanguageModels

Ca 5% of white adults in the US support white nationalism, but among young white men, it's 13.5%. White nationalist support is most common among Republicans and conservatives, low incomes and low education, and those with close friendships primarily online (indicative of online radicalization).

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#WhiteNationalism #OnlineRadicalization #PoliticalPolarization

New research says that people in small online group chats often adjust their expressed political views to match the dominant viewpoint of the room, even if it does not reflect their private beliefs.

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#OnlineGroups #PoliticalPolarization #Groupthink

Americans interpret major political events through a deeply polarized lens. Republicans prioritize social order/ conformity and view protests that disrupt social order as threatening. Democrats place higher value on individual rights/ inclusion and view protests by marginalized groups as necessary.

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#PoliticalPolarization #SocialCognition #ProtestRights

📊 Study reveals how deep political divides shape views on major events like Black Lives Matter protests and January 6th Capitol attack. Researchers Rongbo Jin and Spencer Lindsay found that intense dislike for the opposing party, not just party labels, drives these interpretations.

🤔 Mental shortcuts and core values play a key role. Republicans' focus on social order may lead them to see disruptive protests as threatening, while Democrats' emphasis on individual rights might make them view them as vital for democracy.

⚖️ "Saving democracy" frame colors perceptions. When people believe democracy is threatened, they use this belief to justify their views on political events. The same event can be seen as a defense of or an attack on democracy, depending on pre-existing loyalties.

📈 Affective polarization significantly amplifies partisan views. Those with the coldest feelings toward the opposing party held the most extreme evaluations of both the BLM protests and the January 6th events. Even independents' views are influenced by emotional attachments.

#PoliticalPolarization #USPolitics #Democracy

U.S. study: Democrats rated MMR, flu and Covid vaccines as safer and more effective than Republicans did, but for MMR and flu that gap vanished once people's views of science were factored in. Covid-19 was the exception: party still predicted views even after that, showing how politicized it became.

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#VaccinationScience #PublicHealth #PoliticalPolarization