Bridging our political and cultural divides may be harder than we think
It’s the standard view, among psychologists and others, that if we’re to heal our political and cultural divides, we’ll need to get better at seeing the world from the other side’s perspective. (If this weren’t already a cliche, the humorist Jack Handey couldn’t have given us his immortal one-liner: before criticising someone, walk a mile in their shoes; that way, when you criticise them, you’ll be a mile away, and you’ll have their shoes.)
But the results of a new American study are slightly worrying. Participants were asked to come up with arguments for positions they disagreed with, a time-honoured experimental tactic for changing people’s minds. But when they were also asked to imagine the thoughts and feelings of their political antagonists, they found those arguments less persuasive. Putting yourself in the other side’s shoes, it seems, only makes you see them as more alien.
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