Huening, Hendrik and Mechtenberg, Lydia and Wang, Stephanie W.
(2022)
Exiting the Echo Chamber: Can Discussions in Randomly Formed Groups Change Opinions and Votes?
Working Paper.
UNSPECIFIED.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Political polarization has increased recently with people withdrawing into their respective echo chambers. We test a potential remedy: discussions in randomly formed groups with varying political composition. In a two-wave experiment, we collected voting intentions and textual data from interactions before the ballot and self-reported votes afterwards. Using NLP and ML methods, we find a striking "double standard.” Participants do change opinions and votes when confronted with opposing views supported by strong enough arguments. However, they are more likely to maintain their prior opinions when more chat partners share them, even if these like-minded peers do not provide supporting arguments.
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