Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding
Fernbach, Rogers, Fox & Sloman (2013) · Psychological Science, 24(6)
Relied on in 1 place across the academy · 1 stated limit
What is contested about it
Asking somebody to explain a policy mechanistically was reported to moderate their position. Later work — sloman2022, by one of the original authors — found the effect smaller and less consistent than the first paper suggested.
What it found
Asking people to explain step by step how a policy would work made them feel they understood it less, and made their position less extreme. Asking them to list reasons did neither.
What it does not show
See the next section. A 2022 study found this only works for arguments about what a policy would do, not for arguments about right and wrong.
Where we rely on it
1 place in the academy. If this paper turned out to be wrong, this is the list that would have to change.
Cited alongside it
Papers that sit under the same topics and films. Not a claim that they agree with each other — only that the same exercises lean on both.
Durably Reducing Transphobia: A Field Experiment on Door-to-Door Canvassing
Broockman & Kalla (2016)Is Political Extremism Supported by an Illusion of Understanding?
Sloman & Vives (2022)Conversational Receptiveness: Improving Engagement with Opposing Views
Yeomans, Minson, Collins, Chen & Gino (2020)Research
A real study. We tell you what it found, how many people were in it, and what it can't prove.
Free to read, link to and quote. If we have carried this paper further than it goes, say so at contact@suaviq.com — corrections to this registry are the most useful mail we get.