The Cognitive Science of Political Thought: Practical Takeaways for Political Discourse
Steven Sloman and Elke U. Weber team up to provide recommendations for improving our political discourse, from recognizing the assumptions people make about other's political motivations to the role of media in sharing scientific consensus-backed information:
"We recently put together a special issue entitled the “Cognitive Science of Political Thought” for the journal Cognition: The International Journal of Cognitive Science. The contributing authors, mostly psychologists, collectively examined the strange new political world that citizens of the United States and numerous other countries have suddenly found themselves in.
This special issue was more than an academic exercise. The authors’ contributions have some practical implications for politicians, policymakers, and other stakeholders, and we asked our authors to help us identify them. The suggestions we received were mostly about how to craft an effective political message but, in our view, go far beyond that. We share the practical takeaways here, summarizing psychological insights on how to improve political discourse to reduce bias and polarization."
