Zorgt blootstelling aan meningen waar je het niet mee eens bent voor polarisatie?

Le résumé fourni par la source

Does exposure to opposing beliefs lead to belief polarization? There is an increasing degree of polarization in society on issues including health, climate, and immigration. Research has shown that this polarization is fueled by exposure to already accepted viewpoints, partly initiated by algorithms online. Another possible source of polarization consists of confronting people with opposing views. In response to opposing views recipients may further reinforce their initial opinion. This expectation was tested in an experiment, in which the quality of the supporting arguments in the opposing message was also manipulated. After a pretest on the basis of which two extreme standpoints were selected, subjects in the main experiment were presented with two messages, each including one of the two extreme standpoints, supported with either strong or weak arguments. There was no polarization effect – on the contrary, subjects shifted their belief in the direction of the standpoint after reading the opposing message, regardless of the argument quality. These results are compatible with other research that also shows that people shift their beliefs in relation to the content of opposing messages.

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