The agreement paradox

Abstract

Why are so many modern societies deeply divided? In this chapter, we review recent research tracing the roots of societal division to (oftentimes well-meaning) attempts to forcibly create agreement. This work suggests that, while pressures for agreement do succeed in producing short-term agreement, they also simultaneously undermine the possibility of long-term agreement. Thus, increasing pressures for agreement can counterintuitively cause long-term division by building an artificial consensus that is doomed to fail, a phenomenon we refer to as the agreement paradox. We illustrate how pressures for agreement create two different long-term psychological responses that cultivate division (reactance and informational contamination). We then discuss laboratory research that provides practical demonstrations of the agreement paradox relevant to the workplace, political correctness norms, the previous US presidential election, and support for pro-environmental laws. We further discuss how this perspective suggests that certain kinds of persons – authoritarian persons – are especially prone to the divisions caused by reactance and informational contamination. We close by offering thoughts on what the agreement paradox model suggests we should do to build stronger and less divisive societies.