Can’t we all just get along?
Nope. But here’s why…
We originally wrote this article way, way back in 2017 when we were appalled by the increasing hyper-partisanship of the country and the inability of the Two Sides to even hear each other, much less agree. Now those seem like the ‘good old days’ as Americans can’t even agree that a hostile invasion of Congress was a bad thing. We all know ‘we’re’ right, that the ‘other side’ should give up and agree, and ‘we’d’ all be better off if ‘they’ did . And of course, ‘they’ think exactly the same about ‘us’. But why? It’s tempting to believe any ‘other side’ is lying, lied to, stupid, or all three, but that’s probably not a full explanation. Unfortunately, the full explanation may be more depressing than the illusions we already have. 
(originally “Can’t We All Just Get Along? Apparently not. Here’s why”, Tom Dwyer Newsletter, Jul 2017, updated with additional resources Jan 2021)
It’s not news that our country is going through a period of hyper-partisanship. Nothing, it seems, is beyond politics and even demonstrable facts make little difference to entrenched ideological positions. Rodney King’s plaintive cry, “Can’t we all just get along?” resonates again with all of us, so much so that some people are beginning to shake off the blinders of politics and reach across the aisle to their fellow Americans. Are we shaking off a fog of confusion? Is there real reason to hope for real change?
Apparently not. We hate to be buzzkills on this, but science has uncovered fascinating (if depressing) evidence that much of the way we see the world, much of what makes that partisan divide so gaping, is hard-wired. In fields like sociology, anthropology, economics, biology, psychology, and more, new tools and techniques are giving us insights into the deepest parts of the human psyche, and the results can be pretty scary to those who like to believe our opinions have some relevance to the real world.
Our “Your Car Matters” staff combs through mountains of information to produce this newsletter, and not every story we read deserves a full article by itself. But bit by bit, they sometimes add up to something important. We’ve been squirreling away studies and reports on the deep causes of why humans see the world the way we do, and there’s no better time than today, in the midst of the Trumpocracy, to share them with you. You probably won’t want to read all these articles unless you’re working on a doctoral thesis of some type, but pick a few at random… you’ll find they point in the same general direction.
The research paints a dim picture. It seems much of what we think of as “reasoning” to a conclusion is actually “justification” for conclusions we’ve already reached in our subconscious, which can be influenced by things we’ll never be explicitly aware of. And once we form these opinions we have built-in mechanisms to protect them, regardless of how true (or not) they might be.
But on the other hand, there is a ray of sunlight to put it all into perspective. All these studies deal with how we form worldviews to begin with. They don’t deal with what we do with those worldviews once we have them.
One of the things that sets human intelligence apart is the potential for self-reflection. We might form opinions in our subconscious, but what we do with those opinions is a matter of conscious choice. If we realize how susceptible we can be to subconscious influence, we can, in fact we’re obligated to, use our conscious thought to overcome our animal brains. Facts and reality are not subject to our choices, but our responses to them are, and understanding why we think the way we do makes us better at thinking more effectively at all. As Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. That may or may not be true, but the unexamined life definitely makes it harder for us to all get along. And the examined life is always within our reach.
Digging very, very deeply…
We told to “know ourselves”, but humans can be dark and mysterious.
Hidden Brain- The Double Standard– It’s easy to spot bias in other people, especially those with whom we disagree. But it’s not so easy to recognize our own biases. Psychologist Emily Pronin says it’s partly because of our brain architecture. This week on Hidden Brain, we explore what Pronin calls the introspection illusion. Shankar Vedantam on Hidden Brain, Jan 2021
The Devil In All Of Us? The Stanford Prison Experiment, by Charles Letherwood , Your Car Matters, Jun 2015
Conducting The Milgram Experiment In Poland, Psychologists Show People Still Obey, Dolinski et al on ScienceDaily, Mar 2017
Harvard University Implicit Bias Test, Harvard University
Is it possible to rid police officers of bias? Tiffanie Wen on BBC Future, Aug 2020
Living a Lie: We Deceive Ourselves to Better Deceive Others, by Matthew Hutson in Scientific American, Apr 2017
The Mindset That Makes It Hard to Admit You’re Wrong, by Dr. Susan Whitbourne in Psychology Today, Mar 2017
An important part of science is admitting when we’re wrong, Mary Beth Griggs on The Verge, Aug 2020
What makes people stop caring?, Tiffanie Wen on BBC Future, Aug 2020
People who support colorblind ideology show less intergroup empathy and are less likely to take action against prejudice, Beth Ellwood in PsyPost, Jul 2020
Talking in Euphemisms Can Chip Away at Your Sense of Morality, by Niemi et al on NYMag Science of US, Apr 2017
Are There Emotional No-Go Areas Where Logic Dare Not Show Its Face? By Richard Dawkins on the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science, Jul 2014
Human Brain Function May Be Organized Differently Than Scientists Have Thought, by Renee Morad on Seeker, Apr 2017
How we make moral decisions, by Anne Trafton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Phys.org, Oct 2020
The Hypothesis- Why Do People Want What They Want? By Satoshi Kanazawa in Psychology Today, Mar 2010
Is it okay to sacrifice one person to save many? How you answer depends on where you’re from. A new study uses the famous trolley problem to show how our culture shapes our moral beliefs.
Are You a Moral Grandstander? New research suggests that moral grandstanding may be a major source of conflict in the world today, Scott Barry Kaufman in Scientific American, Oct 2019 (Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall at Scientific American. You can find a free version here.)
More Human Than Thou… Or Just Better? Our Motivation To Think We’re Good Trumps Our Desire To Feel Human, by Alex Fradera in the Research Digest of the British Psychological Society, Mar 2017
Researchers identify a new personality construct that describes the tendency to see oneself as a victim, Beth Ellwood on PsyPost.org, Dec 2020
New research explores authoritarian mind-set of Trump’s core supporters, Christopher Ingraham in Washington Post, Oct 2020
To Come To The Rescue Or Not? Rats, Like People, Take Cues From Bystanders, Nell Greenfield Boyce, NPR’s All Things Considered, July 2020
Why predicting our future feelings is so difficult, Claudia Hammond on BBC Future, Aug 2020
Understanding The Role Of Offender History In Mitigating Moral Blame Requires New Insights Into How People Think About Free Will, by Dr. Michael Gill on Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Jun 2017
Donald Trump And The Slippery Slope To Becoming A Prolific Liar, by Brian Resnick on Vox, May 2017
Our Brains Judge a Face’s Trustworthiness—Even When We Can’t See It by James Devitt on the NYU website, Aug 2014
Shocking Discovery? Money Earned By Exploitation Is Less Rewarding, Study Shows, by Hannah Devlin in The Guardian, May 2017
If I want to know how certain you are of your opinion, I don’t have to ask for it. It’s likely predictable. Bert Gambini in University at Buffalo News Center, Aug 2020
The Effects Of Social Identity Threat And Social Identity Affirmation On Laypersons’ Perception Of Scientists, by Nauroth et al on Sage Journals, Feb 2016
We often believe unbelievable things, even when there’s strong reason not to. But why?
Why Don’t Some People Believe In Science? On Seeker, Nov 2016
Neuroscientist explains why Christian evangelicals are wired to believe Donald Trump’s lies, Bobby Azarian on Alternet, Aug 2020 (This is an inflammatory headline on a neutral study, but the story is much more understandable than the research it’s based on. For the much-more-neutral research, go to The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Belief on PLOS ONE.)
Fake News Spreads Because People Trust Their Friends Too Much, by Jesse Singal on NYMag Science of US, Mar 2017
Study suggests religious belief does not conflict with interest in science, except among Americans, Beth Ellwood on PsyPost, Aug 2020
The Brain Science Behind Conspiracy Theories, Rebecca Coffey in Dame Magazine, Apr 2020
Conspiracy Theorists May Really Just Be Lonely, by Matthew Hutson in Scientific American, May 2017
The Dark Allure Of Conspiracy Theories, Explained By A Psychologist, by Brian Resnick on Vox, May 2017
People Drawn to Conspiracy Theories Share a Cluster of Psychological Features, Melinda Wenner Moyer in Scientific American, Mar 2019
The enduring allure of conspiracies, Greg Miller in KnowableMagazine.org, Jan 2021
How the Science of “Blue Lies” May Explain Trump’s Support, by Jeremy Smith in Scientific American, Mar 2017
These differences play out in every phase of our lives. Would we expect politics to be any different?
Were you once a conservative but are now a liberal? Were you once a liberal but are now a conservative? How did it feel? Answer thread on Quora, 2017
Online Purchas Patterns Show Left-Wingers And Right-Wingers Read Very Diferent Science Books, by Alex Fradera in the Research Digest of the British Psychological Society, Jun 2017
How We Empower Political Extremists, Cory Clark in Psychology Today, Jan 2021
I’m liberal, and my husband is conservative. We’ve been married for 40 years. Here’s my best advice on how to talk politics with your family when you completely disagree. Jeanne Safer on BusinessInsider, Dec 2018
People Prefer Strangers Who Share Their Political Views To Friends Who Don’t, Emily Reynolds in the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, Aug 2020
What Shapes Your Political Beliefs at 18, 35, and 50, by Natalie Jacewicz on NYMag Science of US, Apr 2017
New Studies Suggest Liberals Are As Blinkered And Biased As Conservatives, by Christian Jarret in the Research Digest of the British Psychological Society, Apr 2017
Conservatives and Liberals Have Different Brains, Studies Show, by Sydney Lupkin on ABC News, Sep 2012
A Major New Study Shows That Political Polarization Is Mainly A Right-Wing Phenomenon, by Dan Kennedy on WGBH Website, Mar 2017
People Who Are Curious About Science Are More Open-Minded About Politics, by Tracy Staedter on Seeker, Jan 2017
How East and West Think In Profoundly Different Ways, by David Robson on BBC.com, Jan 2017
Scientists identify a psychological phenomenon that could be reinforcing political echo chambers, Eric Dolan in PsyPost, Jan 2021
There’s no way to always agree, yet we have to live together. What’s the best way to change the mind of ‘the other’, whoever they might be?
New Paper Provides Evidence-Backed Insights On How Not To Come Across As A Jerk, by Alex Fradera in the Research Digest of the British Psychological Society, Jul 2017
Here’s why some people are willing to challenge bullying, corruption and bad behavior, even at personal risk, Catherine Sanderson on TheConversation, Jun 2020
The Most Important Communication Skill You Will Ever Need, by Susan Krauss Whitbourne in Psychology Today, Jul 2017
Explicitly Teaching Critical Thinking Skills in a History Course, by Anne McLaughlin and Alicia McGill on SpringerLink, Mar 2017
When we fight fire with fire: Rudeness can be as contagious as the common cold, research shows, William Wan in Washington Post, Jun 2018
The data scientist exposing US white supremacists: ‘This is how you fight Nazis’, Sam Levin interview with Emily Gorcenski in The Guardian, Oct 2020
Are Toxic Political Conversations Changing How We Feel about Objective Truth?
As political polarization grows, the arguments we have with one another may be shifting our understanding of truth itself. Fisher, et al, Scientific American, Feb 2018 (Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall at Scientific American. You can find a free version here.)
Is it ever good to be spiteful? Jamie Waters in The Guardian, Nov 2020
Is This How Discrimination Ends? By Jessica Nordell in The Atlantic, May 2017
You want people to do the right thing? Save them the guilt trip, Claudia Schneider on Psyche, Aug 2020
The science that proves how you can have political debates but still get along and get things done, Heidi Lux on Upworthy, Nov 2020
Should Students be Taught to Argue Rationally? By Annie Holmquist on Intellectual Takeout, May 2016
How To Get People To Overcome Their Bias, by Tom Stafford on BBC, Jan 2017
How to Criticize with Kindness: Philosopher Daniel Dennett on the Four Steps to Arguing Intelligently, by Maria Popova on Brain Pickings
Why Facts Don’t Convice People (And What You Can Do About it), video by Brave New Films, Jun 2017
4 Simple Ways to Change People’s Minds- How to change people’s minds without triggering a negative response. Jason Feifer on Entrepeneur.com, Jun 2020
To Save America, Argue Better! It’s not that we need to stop arguing with each other. We just need to find more effective ways to do it. “Crafted by The Atlantic’s marketing team and paid for by AllState”
Showing pro-diversity feelings are the norm makes individuals more tolerant, Chris Barncard on Phys.org, Jun 2020
Man shares two lessons he learned from disrupting a racist joke in a group of white people, Annie Reneau on UpWorthy, Jun 2020
The Power Of Framing: It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It, by Steve Rathje in The Guardian, Jul 2017
How To Win Arguments And Actually Change Someone’s Mind, Ali Pattillo on Inverse
Harvard Study Holds a Clue on How to Combat Political Vitriol, by Annie Holmquist in Intellectual Takeout, Jun 2017
How to Have Difficult Conversations When You Don’t Like Conflict, Joel Garfinkle in Harvard Business Review, May 2017
Worried About a Difficult Conversation? Here’s Advice From a Hostage Negotiator, Elizabeth Bernstein in Wall Street Journal, Jun 2020 (Unfortunately, the article is behind a paywall at Wall Street Journal. You can find a free version here.)
What Are Some Tools We Can Use To Improve… Whoever ‘We’ Are?
For A Modest Personality Trait, ‘Intellectual Humility’ Packs A Punch, on Medical Express, Mar 2017
The Science of Wisdom, Igor Grossmann on Aeon, Oct 2020
Psychologists Have Identified The Kind Of Emotional Intelligence That Makes Internet Trolls So Mean, by Cassie Werber on Quartz, Jul 2017
As News Approaches, Even Optimists Brace For The Worst, by Christian Jarrett in the Research Digest of the British Psychological Society, May 2017
The psychology behind that popular new comic from ‘The Oatmeal’, by Cross, Martinez, and Galarreta on KPCC website, May 2017
Small Pleasures Are Just As Important For Our Wellbeing As Long-Term Goals, Emily Reynolds in the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, Aug 2020
Why some people are more optimistic than others — and why it matters, Galadriel Watson in Washington Post, Aug 2020
Can Computers Help Us to Be More Empathic? New research investigates the power of virtual reality, Alison Jane Martingano, Ph.D., in Psychology Today, Aug 2020
Why it’s sensible to be silly, Elle Hunt in The Guardian, Aug 2020
Culture Affects How People Deceive Others, Study Shows, ScienceDaily, Jun 2017
How To Pop Your ‘Filter Bubble’, BBC News Video, Jun 2017
