Bridge or Sink: Scalable Depolarization through Entertainment

• In Event: Bridging the Divide: Polarization, Ideology, Trust, and Conspiracy

Abstract

Researchers and policymakers are increasingly concerned about rising levels of partisan animosity (e.g. Finkel et al., 2020) and have devised and tested a range of behavioral remedies (Hartman et al., 2022; Voelkel et al., 2024). However, these interventions face three challenges: 1) effects are often narrow and short-lived; 2) heavy-touch interventions are difficult to scale; and 3) motivational barriers prevent entrenched partisans from participating in depolarization exercises. To address these challenges, we developed “Bridge or Sink” – a game show that aims to depolarize its viewers by showing collaborative and positive contact between opposing partisans in an entertainment setting.

In the show, two contestants play a trivia game modelled after an online quiz developed by Woodley et al. (2024). They answer general trivia questions, before turning to political questions that challenge partisan beliefs. For each correct answer the contestants earn money; for each incorrect answer, they fall into cold water. While viewers of the show know that the contestants are opposing partisans from the beginning, the contestants only learn about each other’s political leanings during the show. Bridge or Sink fosters the positive and collaborative conditions in which intergroup contact can reduce animosity (Allport, 1954; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006), while allowing us to extend this positive intergroup contact to a wide audience through entertainment.

To test whether Bridge or Sink can reduce partisan animosity, we conducted an online experiment (N = 1,307). Participants were randomly assigned to watch one of three 1-hour game show episodes: an episode of Bridge or Sink, a non-political control version of the same episode, or a control episode of NBC’s Who’s Still Standing? Importantly, the non-political control version featured the same contestants and gameplay as Bridge or Sink – however, neither viewers nor contestants learn about their political leanings and the show features only general trivia questions. After watching their assigned episode, participants reported their warmth towards a typical out-group member on a 0-100 feeling thermometer.

We find that participants who watched Bridge or Sink reported greater out-group warmth than those who watched Who’s Still Standing? (d = 0.33, p < 0.001). Our game show reduced partisan animosity above and beyond the mere entertainment value provided in the control show. Importantly, participants assigned to watch Bridge or Sink also reported greater out-group warmth than those who watched the non-political control version of the same episode (d = 0.13, p = 0.005). This result underscores the importance of domain-specific – i.e. political – collaboration in reducing partisan animosity.

Our entertainment approach is a promising first step towards overcoming the challenges facing existing interventions to reduce partisan animosity. Light-touch interventions like corrections of misperceptions may only lead to narrow and short-lived reductions in animosity (Dias et al., 2024), while heavy-touch interventions that foster positive social contact cannot be easily scaled and are unlikely to reach entrenched partisans (Landry & Halperin, 2025). Bridge or Sink embeds elements of successful social contact interventions in a game show, suggesting a promising avenue for scalable and entertaining interventions that reduce partisan animosity.

Author

• Max Spohn, Harvard University
  Presenting Author