You are not like the rest of them: disrupting meta-perceptions dilutes dehumanization

Abstract

Political polarization, fueled by conflicting meta-perceptions, presents a critical obstacle to constructive discourse and collaboration. These meta-perceptions-how one group perceives another group's views of them-are often inaccurate and can lead to detrimental outcomes such as increased hostility and dehumanization. Across two studies, we introduce and experimentally test a novel approach that exposes participants to atypical, counter-stereotypical members of an opposing group who either confirm or disrupt their existing meta-perceptions. We find that disrupting meta-perceptions decreases dehumanization of the partner, increases interest in wanting to learn more about them, but fails to increase willingness to interact in the future with the partner. We conduct an exploratory text analysis to uncover differences in word choice by condition. Our research adds a new dimension to the existing body of work by examining the efficacy of alternative intervention strategies to improve intergroup relations in politically polarized settings.