Olivia Barta, Seannie Cahill-Swenson, Noah Rosenfeld
Abstract: Affective polarization is defined as the extent to which one dislikes their political outgroup compared to their political ingroup. We are studying the extent to which two kinds of meditation (mindfulness and loving-kindness) can reduce affective polarization. We propose an experiment in which participants are randomly assigned to either a waitlist control, a general 8-week mindfulness meditation course, or an 8-week mindfulness course including loving-kindness meditation (LKM). We will measure affective polarization levels immediately following course completion, a month after course completion, and 3 months after course completion. We hypothesize that the LKM condition will produce the greatest reduction in affective polarization, followed by the general mindfulness condition, followed by the waitlist control condition. We predict that both the LKM and general mindfulness conditions will produce a statistically significant reduction in affective polarization. The implications of this research could provide one way to fight growing divisions in American politics and society.
