The goal of this project is to better understand which facets of social interaction about politics are most stress inducing, for which kinds of people, and in which contexts. The first part of the study uses survey experiments to assess hypothesized aspects of interpersonal political interaction that may induce stress, relating to demands to form and express opinions, as well as concerns about potentially negative evaluations or social implications of political interaction. This survey experiment will be conducted with a a nationally representative sample of American adults. The second part of the study will use a set of laboratory experiments to demonstrate causal relationships between the experience of social encounters with politics and self-reported as well as physiologically-measured stress and emotional reponese. By manipulating the social tie strength of the discussants in a political interaction, the format of the interaction, and the anticipated level of disagreement, the study will more fully elucidate the mechanisms that cause people to be uncomfortable interacting about politics, potentially leading to their disengagement from politics. This research will fill major gaps in the political science literature by unifying fragemented findings loosely related to these topics. This unique approach also continues to bridge the methodological gap between between political science and psychology by relying heavily on a social psychological explanation for political behavior.
The combined effect of increased social interaction about politics-due to largely to the development fo the Internet and social media-in a more polarized political environment suggest that people are more likely to encounter extreme views, information about political beliefs in their social connections, and demands to voice their own political opinions. Not everyone will be equally affected by these changes in the political environment, however, and individual psychological differences may influence how people interpret the demands and ramifications of contentious social interactions about politics. This study examines the psychological traits that impact our willingness to engage in political debate.
Democratic behavior hinges on the idea that all citizens have equal opportunity to voice their opinions. Barriers to participation and representation-based on gender, race, class, and education level-persist and remain formidable challenges. However, we should not overlook more-subtle-and perhaps more complex-barriers to engagement based on people's orientation twoard conflict and disagreement. People who prefer consensus and cmpromise may be discouraged from engaging meaningfully with politics in a polarized environment. Identifying the facets of politics that are stressful to citizens, and indentifying the facets of politics that are stressful to citizens, and indentifying ways to ameliorate that stress, has the potential to energize and enfranchise citizens who are discuouraged by our current political system.
