Reducing Partisan Animosity One Small Step at a Time

Image adapted from One Small Step. 

PRISE Founding Faculty Director and Professor of Psychology Jennifer Richeson is working with One Small Step (OSS) in an effort to reduce the “culture of contempt” that has emerged in our society. Building on the insights of StoryCorps, OSS pairs ordinary Americans from across the political divide for one-on-one conservations. Based on social psychology’s contact theory, OSS participants discuss aspects of their lives that are personal, rather than political. During this process, they often discover common recent experiences, such as becoming a grandparent or having a similar interest or occupation.

The “contact hypothesis” is a straightforward but powerful idea. It says this: People who come from different social and cultural groups can learn to like and respect one another through repeated interactions, such as through conversations. The learning, familiarity, and humanization that happens when we really start to get to know another person are important to breaking down the interpersonal forms of prejudice and “othering” that fuel so many intergroup divides in our nation, including partisan animosity. We remember that we are more than our group memberships as our those with whom we disagree politically. We remember our shared humanity.

PRISE is supporting efforts to test the efficacy of OSS, as well as serving in an advisory capacity; namely offering scientific guidance. PRISE believes that the level of political animus that currently characterizes our nation is detrimental to our citizenry and democracy and, further, makes it next to impossible to come together as Americans to promote societal equity.