Generically partisan: Polarization in political communication.

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Political Science
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Political parties exhibit increasing polarization.
• Public perception of ideological divides exceeds actual differences.
• Perceived polarization is linked to interparty hostility.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the role of generalization tendencies in perceived political polarization.
• Examine how generic statements influence political judgments and beliefs.
• Understand the cognitive mechanisms behind exaggerated party differences.

Main Methods:

• Measured interpretation, endorsement, and recall of category-referring statements (generics).
• Conducted three studies with 417, 928, and 422 participants.
• Analyzed responses to generic versus nongeneric political statements.

Main Results:

• Perceived polarization significantly exceeded actual polarization.
• Participants endorsed true generics even when believing them applicable to <50% of a party.
• Information from political elites led to generic recall, regardless of original statement type.
• Generic statements about new information produced more polarized judgments than nongeneric ones.

Conclusions:

• Individuals tend to form mental representations that exaggerate political party differences.
• The common use of generic language contributes to inferential errors.
• These errors exacerbate perceived polarization and interparty hostility.