How to have better political conversations
-
0:01 - 0:04So you probably have the sense,
as most people do, -
0:04 - 0:07that polarization
is getting worse in our country, -
0:08 - 0:11that the divide
between the left and the right -
0:11 - 0:15is as bad as it's been
in really any of our lifetimes. -
0:15 - 0:20But you might also reasonably wonder
if research backs up your intuition. -
0:21 - 0:25And in a nutshell,
the answer is sadly yes. -
0:27 - 0:29In study after study, we find
-
0:29 - 0:33that liberals and conservatives
have grown further apart. -
0:33 - 0:38They increasingly wall themselves off
in these ideological silos, -
0:38 - 0:42consuming different news,
talking only to like-minded others -
0:42 - 0:46and more and more choosing
to live in different parts of the country. -
0:47 - 0:50And I think that
most alarming of all of it -
0:50 - 0:54is seeing this rising
animosity on both sides. -
0:54 - 0:56Liberals and conservatives,
-
0:56 - 0:58Democrats and Republicans,
-
0:58 - 1:01more and more they just
don't like one another. -
1:02 - 1:04You see it in many different ways.
-
1:04 - 1:08They don't want to befriend one another.
They don't want to date one another. -
1:08 - 1:11If they do, if they find out,
they find each other less attractive, -
1:11 - 1:14and they more and more don't want
their children to marry someone -
1:14 - 1:16who supports the other party,
-
1:16 - 1:18a particularly shocking statistic.
-
1:20 - 1:22You know, in my lab,
the students that I work with, -
1:22 - 1:26we're talking about
some sort of social pattern -- -
1:26 - 1:29I'm a movie buff, and so I'm often like,
-
1:30 - 1:32what kind of movie are we in here
with this pattern? -
1:33 - 1:36So what kind of movie are we in
with political polarization? -
1:37 - 1:40Well, it could be a disaster movie.
-
1:41 - 1:43It certainly seems like a disaster.
-
1:43 - 1:45Could be a war movie.
-
1:46 - 1:47Also fits.
-
1:47 - 1:51But what I keep thinking is that
we're in a zombie apocalypse movie. -
1:51 - 1:53(Laughter)
-
1:53 - 1:55Right? You know the kind.
-
1:55 - 1:58There's people wandering around in packs,
-
1:58 - 1:59not thinking for themselves,
-
1:59 - 2:01seized by this mob mentality
-
2:01 - 2:04trying to spread their disease
and destroy society. -
2:05 - 2:08And you probably think, as I do,
-
2:08 - 2:11that you're the good guy
in the zombie apocalypse movie, -
2:11 - 2:15and all this hate and polarization,
it's being propagated by the other people, -
2:15 - 2:17because we're Brad Pitt, right?
-
2:18 - 2:21Free-thinking, righteous,
-
2:21 - 2:23just trying to hold on
to what we hold dear, -
2:23 - 2:27you know, not foot soldiers
in the army of the undead. -
2:27 - 2:28Not that.
-
2:28 - 2:29Never that.
-
2:30 - 2:32But here's the thing:
-
2:32 - 2:34what movie do you suppose
they think they're in? -
2:35 - 2:37Right?
-
2:37 - 2:39Well, they absolutely think
that they're the good guys -
2:39 - 2:41in the zombie apocalypse movie. Right?
-
2:41 - 2:44And you'd better believe
that they think that they're Brad Pitt -
2:44 - 2:46and that we, we are the zombies.
-
2:49 - 2:51And who's to say that they're wrong?
-
2:52 - 2:56I think that the truth is
that we're all a part of this. -
2:56 - 2:59And the good side of that
is that we can be a part of the solution. -
3:00 - 3:02So what are we going to do?
-
3:03 - 3:08What can we do to chip away
at polarization in everyday life? -
3:08 - 3:11What could we do to connect with
and communicate with -
3:11 - 3:13our political counterparts?
-
3:14 - 3:18Well, these were exactly the questions
that I and my colleague, Matt Feinberg, -
3:18 - 3:20became fascinated with a few years ago,
-
3:20 - 3:22and we started
doing research on this topic. -
3:23 - 3:26And one of the first things
that we discovered -
3:26 - 3:29that I think is really helpful
for understanding polarization -
3:29 - 3:31is to understand
-
3:31 - 3:35that the political divide in our country
is undergirded by a deeper moral divide. -
3:35 - 3:40So one of the most robust findings
in the history of political psychology -
3:40 - 3:44is this pattern identified
by Jon Haidt and Jesse Graham, -
3:44 - 3:45psychologists,
-
3:45 - 3:49that liberals and conservatives
tend to endorse different values -
3:49 - 3:50to different degrees.
-
3:51 - 3:56So for example, we find that liberals
tend to endorse values like equality -
3:56 - 4:00and fairness and care
and protection from harm -
4:00 - 4:02more than conservatives do.
-
4:02 - 4:07And conservatives tend to endorse
values like loyalty, patriotism, -
4:07 - 4:11respect for authority and moral purity
-
4:11 - 4:13more than liberals do.
-
4:14 - 4:18And Matt and I were thinking
that maybe this moral divide -
4:18 - 4:21might be helpful
for understanding how it is -
4:21 - 4:24that liberals and conservatives
talk to one another -
4:24 - 4:26and why they so often
seem to talk past one another -
4:26 - 4:27when they do.
-
4:27 - 4:29So we conducted a study
-
4:29 - 4:32where we recruited liberals to a study
-
4:32 - 4:35where they were supposed
to write a persuasive essay -
4:35 - 4:39that would be compelling to a conservative
in support of same-sex marriage. -
4:40 - 4:43And what we found was that liberals
tended to make arguments -
4:43 - 4:47in terms of the liberal moral values
of equality and fairness. -
4:47 - 4:49So they said things like,
-
4:49 - 4:52"Everyone should have the right
to love whoever they choose," -
4:52 - 4:55and, "They" -- they being gay Americans --
-
4:55 - 4:58"deserve the same equal rights
as other Americans." -
4:58 - 5:02Overall, we found
that 69 percent of liberals -
5:02 - 5:07invoked one of the more liberal
moral values in constructing their essay, -
5:07 - 5:11and only nine percent invoked
one of the more conservative moral values, -
5:11 - 5:14even though they were supposed
to be trying to persuade conservatives. -
5:14 - 5:18And when we studied conservatives
and had them make persuasive arguments -
5:19 - 5:21in support of making English
the official language of the US, -
5:21 - 5:24a classically conservative
political position, -
5:24 - 5:26we found that they weren't
much better at this. -
5:26 - 5:2859 percent of them made arguments
-
5:28 - 5:31in terms of one of the more
conservative moral values, -
5:31 - 5:33and just eight percent
invoked a liberal moral value, -
5:33 - 5:36even though they were supposed
to be targeting liberals for persuasion. -
5:37 - 5:42Now, you can see right away
why we're in trouble here. Right? -
5:42 - 5:46People's moral values,
they're their most deeply held beliefs. -
5:46 - 5:49People are willing
to fight and die for their values. -
5:50 - 5:52Why are they going to give that up
just to agree with you -
5:52 - 5:56on something that they don't particularly
want to agree with you on anyway? -
5:56 - 5:59If that persuasive appeal that
you're making to your Republican uncle -
5:59 - 6:02means that he doesn't
just have to change his view, -
6:02 - 6:04he's got to change
his underlying values, too, -
6:04 - 6:05that's not going to go very far.
-
6:06 - 6:07So what would work better?
-
6:08 - 6:12Well, we believe it's a technique
that we call moral reframing, -
6:13 - 6:15and we've studied it
in a series of experiments. -
6:15 - 6:17In one of these experiments,
-
6:17 - 6:20we recruited liberals
and conservatives to a study -
6:20 - 6:22where they read one of three essays
-
6:22 - 6:25before having their environmental
attitudes surveyed. -
6:26 - 6:27And the first of these essays
-
6:27 - 6:31was a relatively conventional
pro-environmental essay -
6:31 - 6:35that invoked the liberal values
of care and protection from harm. -
6:35 - 6:37It said things like,
"In many important ways -
6:37 - 6:40we are causing real harm
to the places we live in," -
6:40 - 6:43and, "It is essential
that we take steps now -
6:43 - 6:46to prevent further destruction
from being done to our Earth." -
6:47 - 6:49Another group of participants
-
6:49 - 6:51were assigned to read
a really different essay -
6:51 - 6:55that was designed to tap into
the conservative value of moral purity. -
6:56 - 6:58It was a pro-environmental essay as well,
-
6:58 - 7:00and it said things like,
-
7:00 - 7:04"Keeping our forests, drinking water,
and skies pure is of vital importance." -
7:05 - 7:06"We should regard the pollution
-
7:07 - 7:09of the places we live in
to be disgusting." -
7:09 - 7:11And, "Reducing pollution
can help us preserve -
7:11 - 7:14what is pure and beautiful
about the places we live." -
7:16 - 7:17And then we had a third group
-
7:17 - 7:20that were assigned
to read just a nonpolitical essay. -
7:20 - 7:23It was just a comparison group
so we could get a baseline. -
7:23 - 7:25And what we found when we surveyed people
-
7:25 - 7:27about their environmental
attitudes afterwards, -
7:27 - 7:30we found that liberals,
it didn't matter what essay they read. -
7:30 - 7:33They tended to have highly
pro-environmental attitudes regardless. -
7:33 - 7:35Liberals are on board
for environmental protection. -
7:35 - 7:37Conservatives, however,
-
7:37 - 7:41were significantly more supportive
of progressive environmental policies -
7:41 - 7:43and environmental protection
-
7:43 - 7:45if they had read the moral purity essay
-
7:45 - 7:47than if they read
one of the other two essays. -
7:48 - 7:51We even found that conservatives
who read the moral purity essay -
7:51 - 7:55were significantly more likely to say
that they believed in global warming -
7:55 - 7:57and were concerned about global warming,
-
7:57 - 7:59even though this essay
didn't even mention global warming. -
7:59 - 8:02That's just a related environmental issue.
-
8:02 - 8:05But that's how robust
this moral reframing effect was. -
8:06 - 8:10And we've studied this on a whole slew
of different political issues. -
8:10 - 8:13So if you want to move conservatives
-
8:13 - 8:17on issues like same-sex marriage
or national health insurance, -
8:17 - 8:20it helps to tie these liberal
political issues to conservative values -
8:20 - 8:23like patriotism and moral purity.
-
8:24 - 8:26And we studied it the other way, too.
-
8:26 - 8:30If you want to move liberals
to the right on conservative policy issues -
8:30 - 8:34like military spending and making English
the official language of the US, -
8:34 - 8:36you're going to be more persuasive
-
8:36 - 8:39if you tie those conservative
policy issues to liberal moral values -
8:39 - 8:41like equality and fairness.
-
8:43 - 8:45All these studies
have the same clear message: -
8:46 - 8:48if you want to persuade
someone on some policy, -
8:48 - 8:52it's helpful to connect that policy
to their underlying moral values. -
8:54 - 8:56And when you say it like that
-
8:56 - 8:57it seems really obvious. Right?
-
8:57 - 8:59Like, why did we come here tonight?
-
8:59 - 9:00Why --
-
9:00 - 9:02(Laughter)
-
9:02 - 9:04It's incredibly intuitive.
-
9:05 - 9:09And even though it is,
it's something we really struggle to do. -
9:09 - 9:13You know, it turns out that when we go
to persuade somebody on a political issue, -
9:13 - 9:15we talk like we're speaking into a mirror.
-
9:15 - 9:20We don't persuade so much
as we rehearse our own reasons -
9:20 - 9:23for why we believe
some sort of political position. -
9:23 - 9:28We kept saying when we were designing
these reframed moral arguments, -
9:28 - 9:30"Empathy and respect,
empathy and respect." -
9:31 - 9:32If you can tap into that,
-
9:33 - 9:34you can connect
-
9:34 - 9:37and you might be able to persuade
somebody in this country. -
9:38 - 9:40So thinking again
-
9:40 - 9:42about what movie we're in,
-
9:43 - 9:45maybe I got carried away before.
-
9:45 - 9:47Maybe it's not a zombie apocalypse movie.
-
9:48 - 9:49Maybe instead it's a buddy cop movie.
-
9:50 - 9:52(Laughter)
-
9:52 - 9:54Just roll with it, just go with it please.
-
9:54 - 9:56(Laughter)
-
9:56 - 9:59You know the kind:
there's a white cop and a black cop, -
9:59 - 10:01or maybe a messy cop and an organized cop.
-
10:01 - 10:03Whatever it is, they don't get along
-
10:03 - 10:05because of this difference.
-
10:06 - 10:09But in the end, when they have
to come together and they cooperate, -
10:09 - 10:11the solidarity that they feel,
-
10:11 - 10:14it's greater because of that gulf
that they had to cross. Right? -
10:15 - 10:17And remember that in these movies,
-
10:17 - 10:20it's usually worst in the second act
-
10:20 - 10:23when our leads are further apart
than ever before. -
10:23 - 10:26And so maybe that's
where we are in this country, -
10:26 - 10:28late in the second act
of a buddy cop movie -- -
10:28 - 10:31(Laughter)
-
10:31 - 10:34torn apart but about
to come back together. -
10:35 - 10:37It sounds good,
-
10:37 - 10:39but if we want it to happen,
-
10:39 - 10:42I think the responsibility
is going to start with us. -
10:43 - 10:45So this is my call to you:
-
10:45 - 10:47let's put this country back together.
-
10:49 - 10:52Let's do it despite the politicians
-
10:52 - 10:55and the media and Facebook and Twitter
-
10:55 - 10:57and Congressional redistricting
-
10:57 - 10:59and all of it,
all the things that divide us. -
11:00 - 11:03Let's do it because it's right.
-
11:04 - 11:08And let's do it
because this hate and contempt -
11:08 - 11:11that flows through all of us every day
-
11:11 - 11:15makes us ugly and it corrupts us,
-
11:15 - 11:18and it threatens
the very fabric of our society. -
11:20 - 11:23We owe it to one another and our country
-
11:23 - 11:25to reach out and try to connect.
-
11:26 - 11:29We can't afford to hate them any longer,
-
11:30 - 11:32and we can't afford
to let them hate us either. -
11:34 - 11:35Empathy and respect.
-
11:36 - 11:37Empathy and respect.
-
11:38 - 11:42If you think about it, it's the very least
that we owe our fellow citizens. -
11:42 - 11:44Thank you.
-
11:44 - 11:48(Applause)
- Title:
- How to have better political conversations
- Speaker:
- Robb Willer
- Description:
-
Robb Willer studies the forces that unite and divide us. As a social psychologist, he researches how moral values -- typically a source of division -- can also be used to bring people together. Willer shares compelling insights on how we might bridge the ideological divide and offers some intuitive advice on ways to be more persuasive when talking politics.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 12:01
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for How to have better political conversations |