Breaking False Polarization: How Information on Descriptive Norms Mitigates Worry Rooted in Polarization (Mis)perceptions

Tom Nijs
Additional contact information
Tom Nijs: ERCOMER, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Social Inclusion, 2025, vol. 13

Abstract: Worry about polarization in society, particularly around the topic of immigration, is widespread despite the lack of substantial evidence supporting the existence of actual polarization of attitudes. This study explores whether this widespread “polarization panic” can be attributed to misperceptions of the descriptive norm, more specifically, to overestimations of polarization in society, a phenomenon known as false polarization. I investigated whether Dutch participants were more worried about polarization when they perceived stronger polarization in immigration attitudes due to a misperception of attitudinal extremity as the descriptive norm and whether correcting their misperceptions with accurate information about the actual descriptive norm reduced this association. A pre‐registered survey‐embedded experiment ( N = 925 ) revealed that the significant positive relationship between perceptions of polarization and polarization worry disappeared when participants were provided with accurate information about the descriptive norm in society. However, this effect was only observed among participants who realized and acknowledged that they overestimated the differences in attitudes. These results suggest that during times of widespread media reports on alarming increases in polarization, informing individuals about the actual descriptive norm can alleviate worry amongst those who overestimate polarization. This approach could potentially facilitate respectful dialogue about the hotly debated topic of immigration. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of this strategy hinges on ensuring that the descriptive norm is correctly interpreted, leading individuals to realize that their worry was based on misperceptions.

Keywords: descriptive norms; false polarization; perceived polarization; polarization worry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/9904 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v13:y:2025:a:9904

DOI: 10.17645/si.9904

Access Statistics for this article

Social Inclusion is currently edited by Mariana Pires

More articles in Social Inclusion from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().