ScienceDaily: Empathizing with the opposition may make you more politically persuasive

“Trying to understand people we disagree with can feel like an effort hardly worth making, particularly in contentious political environments in which offering even the smallest olive branch to the opposition can be perceived as betraying our own side. Research in Psychological Science, however,suggests that cross-partisan empathy may actually make our political arguments more persuasive, rather than softening our convictions. This holds true for even the most politically partisan among us.

"Empathizing across differences can not only help us better understand people's perspectives but also make us more convincing advocates of our own beliefs," said Luiza A. Santos, who conducted this research with Jan G. Voelkel, Robb Willer, and Jamil Zaki (Stanford University). People who are encouraged to value empathy across party lines are also more likely to support bipartisan cooperation and less likely to report hating people on the other side of a political issue, Santos added.

To explore how belief in the utility of empathy can decrease partisan animosity and increase political persuasiveness, Santos and colleagues conducted a series of four studies involving 3,650 Democrat and Republican participants in the United States.

In the first study of 411 participants, the researchers found that people who placed more value on cross-partisan empathy were also more likely to desire bipartisan cooperation and to hold less animosity toward the other political party. A follow-up study of 688 college freshmen revealed that students with more cross-partisan empathy were likelier than less empathetic students to report having more friends with different political beliefs.``

Some Insights From This Article

• According to this article, empathy may seem more useful than we thought. Empathizing with your opposition and their position may increase your persuasiveness and thoughtfulness when engaging in debate.

• Often avoided due to potentially “softening your convictions”, empathy for your opponents arguments and positions may actually suggest the opposite, often showing deep consideration for their position and being able to show seriousness in taking their position.

• Although difficult, the high road of empathy may prove more useful in making us more considerate of the other position and also making our position more convincing and persuasive. In a political climate where often insults and claims are thrown around, perhaps a serious evaluation of the opponent’s position and claims may create more headway.

Why do you think having empathy for the opposing position is so hard?

Full article is here!

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