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Updated: May 18, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Encouraging moderation: clues from a simple model of ideological conflict
Seth A Marvel1, Hyunsuk Hong, Anna Papush
1Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. smarvel@umich.edu
Abstract:
Some of the most pivotal moments in intellectual history occur when a new ideology sweeps through a society, supplanting an established system of beliefs in a rapid revolution of thought. Yet in many cases the new ideology is as extreme as the old. Why is it then that moderate positions so rarely prevail? Here, in the context of a simple model of opinion spreading, we test seven plausible strategies for deradicalizing a society and find that only one of them significantly expands the moderate subpopulation without risking its extinction in the process.
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