Study of the Day: Why There’s No Love Lost Between Political Enemies

New research in Psychological Science uncovers a deterrent to our ability to relate to other people: our political ideologies.

 

CONCLUSION: Our tendency to project our visceral feelings onto others does not extend to people who we consider to be very dissimilar from us.

 

IMPLICATION: Opposing political views may make people seem extremely different and unrelatable. “This as a problem of empathy,” says O’Brien. “We don’t want to step into someone else’s shoes when we disagree with them.”

 

by Hans Villarica