Confronting Politics: The Role of Conflict Orientation in Shaping Political Debate

Abstract

Previous research (Testa et al 2014, Mutz 2015) finds that conflict orientation—individuals’ psychological predisposition towards conflict--conditions attitudes of people in the United States in the face of political disagreement. However, little research has been done into how conflict orientation influences the ways in which people engage in conversation that has the potential to become uncomfortable or contentious. While we argue that conflict orientation has a significant impact on the way college students discuss politics, results from series of interviews with undergraduate students about their thoughts and ideas regarding political incivility and campus free speech suggest that this is not the case. Instead we find that deliberation and small-group conversation can bring both the conflict-avoidant and conflict-approaching into the political conversation.