Outgroup homogeneity bias makes people assume opposing political groups are more uniform than they are.

Morality-as-cooperation theory explains how shared social instincts lead to different political values.

Facts and logic rarely change minds; genuine curiosity and empathy are more effective.

It’s no secret that we live in a world where people are frequently polarized in their political views. In the United States, Republicans and Democrats are frequently seen as opposites with virtually no overlapping values. Indeed, it has devolved into members of each political party calling members of the other immoral or evil, and “conservative” and “liberal” have become derogatory labels. This extreme perspective can leave coworkers feeling alienated from those who do not share their political affiliation or general set of values.

Let’s turn to psychology to help understand what is going on. First, consider the outgroup homogeneity bias. This refers to the universal, and apparently innate, tendency for people to view members of groups to which they themselves do not belong (outgroups) as more similar to each other compared to how they view members of their own groups (ingroups). In other words, we more easily recognize the diversity across those who comprise our ingroups than we do our outgroups. This makes it easy to describe everyone in the “other” group in concise ways that do not reflect reality.

Applying this phenomenon to politics, Republicans view Democrats as all sharing a particular set of beliefs and values, but recognize that among Republicans there is a good deal of variation. Of course, the same tendency applies to Democrats when they think and talk about Republicans. The outgroup homogeneity bias helps ensure continued polarization, as we fail to recognize that not all Republicans and not all Democrats think alike. So, we likely are closer in opinions and values to at least some members of the other party than we assume we are.

How Morality-as-Cooperation Theory Explains Political Values

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