Depolarizing the Classroom: The Effectiveness of Depolarization Communication Techniques

Affective polarization has become pervasive. Research in Political Science has shown that Americans are more polarized than ever (Mason 2018, Iyengar et al. 2019) and this has important negative consequences for democracy (Graham and Svolik 2020). In response to this problem, non-governmental organizations have designed workshops and activities that seek to depolarize the public. Despite an increasing number of studies on these workshops and their effect on affective polarization (Hartman et al. 2022, Baron et al. forthcoming), there is still little research on the mechanisms behind their effect or their ability to teach the specific skills they claim to teach. Our paper addresses this gap. In it we test the effectiveness of communication-based depolarization programs using an original communication skills course module designed specifically for an undergraduate audience. Using a randomized control trial, we evaluate the extent to which this module achieves its stated objectives—enhancing students’ ability to value viewpoint diversity and constructively disagree with each other—as well as its more overarching goals of reducing affective polarization. We implemented the randomized control trial in two major universities in Utah—Brigham Young University and the University of Utah—where we randomly assigned a group of students to the communication skills module and another group to a comparable non-related course of equal length. Unlike most studies, which assess the effect of these efforts on the individuals that participate in them, we compare these groups across a wide set of outcomes. We use surveys to assess the participants’ change in their own attitudes, as well as assessments of outsiders (family members and conversation partners) of the participant’s communication skills. We also assess the skills themselves by observing and coding pre-planned Zoom conversations with randomly assigned students with different views on the subject of gun ownership. The idea of an educational model is exciting because of its potential impact. Earlier evidence suggests that students who take the module are able to understand and apply the skills it teaches in educational settings, but it is unclear if or how these skills transfer to other spaces. Our studies explore the external validity of the exercise assessing whether the techniques taught in the module are used past the classroom, to what extent to they improve relationships with people in the students’ social networks, and if they help reduce affective polarization.