Empathic Concern

How Empathic Concern Fuels Political Polarization

• ELIZABETH N. SIMAS

  • SCOTT CLIFFORD

  • JUSTIN H. KIRKLAND

Over the past two decades, there has been a marked increase in partisan social polarization, leaving scholars in search of solutions to partisan conflict. The psychology of intergroup relations identifies empathy as one of the key mechanisms that reduces intergroup conflict, and some have suggested that a lack of empathy has contributed to partisan polarization. Yet, empathy may not always live up to this promise

Can Empathic Concern Actually Increase Political Polarization?

by Scott Barry Kaufman,

December 16, 2019