(iPoster) How Second-Order Stereotypes Influence Affective Polarization

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Polarization, Identity, and Democratic Vulnerability & Political Communication I
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Polarization, Identity, and Democratic Vulnerability

Abstract

Politicians and citizens commonly evoke negative stereotypes about partisan rivals when addressing their own supporters, variously describing opponents as arrogant, elitist, extremist, ignorant, racist, or fascist. But these negative stereotypes often reach the partisan rivals they are directed against via news reporting, social media, and in-group leaders who strategically inform their supporters about their opponents’ insulting characterizations. We argue that exposure to negative stereotyping of one’s in-group by political opponents – what we term second-order stereotypes – intensifies recipients’ anger and resentment towards partisan rivals, thereby intensifying affective polarization. Fielding an original pre-registered experiment with American citizens, we manipulate features of the content of second-order stereotypes (e.g. trait-based vs. issue-based), their out-partisan source (elite/layperson), and whether they are delivered directly or are mediated by an in-group agent. Our findings highlight the role of second-order stereotypes in escalating affective polarization and point towards a unqiue pathway through which social media drives negative affect by facilitating broad exposure to second-order stereotypes.

Authors

• James Adams, University of California, Davis

• Braeden Davis, UC Davis

• Lior Sheffer, Tel Aviv University

• Alon Yakter, Tel Aviv University