(Northwestern University)
Beyond Pride and Prejudice: Can Insights from Relationship Psychology Improve Our Politics
The divide between American liberals and conservatives is growing wider and more vitriolic, and it’s not clear how these trends might reverse. This presentation applies the wisdom of relationship psychology to draw the conclusion that Americans are trapped in a toxic marriage—one characterized by extreme manifestations of contempt, a negative attribution bias, etc. Leveraging insights from moral psychology and cognitive science, the presentation suggests that persuading Americans to conceptualize the body politic as a struggling family can help to mitigate the worst elements of our partisan divide, and, ultimately, to cultivate a more constructive politics.
The colloquium will be held on zoom. Please contact slagell.2@osu.edu for the zoom link.