Inclusion reduces political prejudice

Abstract

Political inclusion is when someone receives a fair chance to voice one's opinions in a discussion of political topics with political outgroup members. In three preregistered studies (total n = 799), we test if political inclusion reduces or increases prejudice toward the political outgroup using either an imagined scenario (Study 1) or an experience in an ostensible online political discussion (Studies 2 & 3). Across all studies, participants who were politically included by political outgroup members reported reduced prejudice toward their political outgroup compared to participants in a neutral control condition (Cohen's ds ranging from −0.50 to −0.27). Study 3 showed that this effect extends to non-political inclusion. The effects of political and non-political inclusion were mediated by perceptions of the political outgroup as fairer and less dissimilar in their worldviews. Our results indicate that inclusive political and non-political discussions reduce political prejudice.