Conformity by Cass R Sunstein

Author:Cass R Sunstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LAW000000 Law / General
Publisher: NYU Press

More Extremism, Less Extremism

Group polarization is not a social constant. It can be increased or decreased, and even eliminated, by certain features of group members or their situation.

First, extremists are especially prone to polarization. It is more probable that they will shift, and it is probable that they will shift more. When they start out at an extreme point and are placed in a group of like-minded people, they are likely to go especially far in the direction with which they started.31 There is a lesson here about the sources of terrorism and political violence in general. And because there is a link between confidence and extremism, the confidence of particular members also plays an important role; confident people are both more influential and more prone to polarization.32

Second, if members of the group think they have a shared identity and a high degree of solidarity, there will be heightened polarization.33 One reason is that if people feel united by some factor (for example, politics or religious convictions), dissent will be dampened. If individual members tend to perceive one another as friendly, likable, and similar to them, the size and likelihood of the shift will increase.34 The existence of affective ties reduces the number of diverse arguments and also intensifies social influences on choice. One implication, noted above, is that mistakes are likely to be increased when group members are united mostly through bonds of affection and not through concentration on a particular task; it is in the former case that alternative views will be less likely to find expression. Hence people are less likely to shift if the direction advocated is being pushed by unlikable or unfriendly group members.35 A sense of “group belongingness” affects the extent of polarization.36 In the same vein, physical spacing tends to reduce polarization; a sense of common fate and intragroup similarity tend to increase it, as does the introduction of a rival “outgroup.”37

An interesting experiment attempted to investigate the effects of group identification.38 Some subjects were given instructions in which group membership was made salient (the “group immersion” condition), whereas others were not (the “individual” condition). For example, subjects in the group immersion condition were told that their group consisted solely of first-year psychology students and that they were being tested as group members rather than as individuals. The relevant issues involved affirmative action, government subsidies for the theater, privatization of nationalized industries, and the phasing out of nuclear power plants.

The results were striking. Polarization generally occurred. But there was the least polarization in the individual condition; polarization was far greater in the group immersion condition, when group identity was emphasized. This experiment strongly suggests that polarization is highly likely to occur, and to be most extreme, when group membership is made salient. Political activists of all kinds are often aware of the fact; so are many entrepreneurs.

Third, over time, group polarization can be fortified because of “exit,” as members leave the group because they reject the direction in which things are heading.39 If exit is pervasive, the tendency to extremism will be greatly aggravated.

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