Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
Watching a Video of College Professors Disagreeing Agreeably to Lower Affective Polarization
1Department of Psychology, Adams State University, Alamosa, CO, USA.
None:
This study examined if watching a 13-minute video of 2 political professors from Ivy League universities disagreeing amicably would lower Affective Polarization, Social Distance, and raise Integrative Complexity compared to a control group. A total of 280 participants (141 Democrats and 139 Republicans) were studied. The experimental group showed significantly lower levels of Affective Polarization with a medium effect size (d = 0.54) and significantly lower levels of Social Distance with a close to medium effect size (d = 0.42) compared to the control group. No significant differences were found in pre-post tests of Integrative Complexity within and between subjects. There were some significant negative correlations between certain Integrative Complexity and Affective Polarization scores, but this was not consistent. No significant correlations between Integrative Complexity and Social Distance were found. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
Group Polarization
The Influence of Affect on Cognition
Cognitive Dissonance
The Influence of Cognition on Affect
Stereotype Content Model
Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect
