Investigating the Effect of Empathy and News Readership on Affective Polarization
Open Access
Author:
Zhang, Steven
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Peter K Hatemi, Thesis Supervisor Matthew Richard Golder, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
affective polarization empathy news readership news news consumption polarization politics psychology behavior political psychology political divide party polarization partisan partisanship
Abstract:
Political scientists have hypothesized that empathy can be a key tool towards reducing affective polarization by encouraging cross-party understanding, but studies have shown that empathy can intensify either positive or negative emotions towards political out-groups. I propose that diversity of news readership modifies the effect of empathy to reduce overall affective polarization. However, my regression suggests that the interaction between empathy and news readership actually increases affective polarization. The directional change of the interaction variable compared to empathy provides evidence that the effect of empathy on affective polarization can differ depending on different mechanisms that can prime empathic behavior.
