AUTHOR=Coleman Peter T. , Phan Lan H. 

TITLE=What motivates bridge building across pernicious group divides? The effects of regulatory motives, framing, and fit on increasing constructive engagement across political and racial divisions

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Social Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 2 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/social-psychology/articles/10.3389/frsps.2024.1352284

DOI=10.3389/frsps.2024.1352284

ISSN=2813-7876

ABSTRACT=Today, the U.S. and countless other democracies have found themselves dangerously divided across political and racial-ethnic differences. Under these conditions, more extreme actors often wield disproportionate influence, with moderate citizens tending to disengage politically, sparking a vicious cycle. Six studies (N = 2,179) were conducted to investigate ways to mobilize citizens to engage in bridge-building activities fostering intergroup tolerance and compassion. Derived from basic regulatory theories of motivation, we tested the effects of stronger prevention (mitigating negative outcomes) versus promotion (seeking ideal outcomes) and assessment (evaluating the best way to proceed) versus locomotion (just "getting it done") motivational orientationsand the fit versus nonfit framing effects of how the activities were presentedon differences in engagement with political and racial bridge-building activities across political, racial, and gender groups in the U.S. We hypothesized that individuals with stronger levels of each of the four motivational mindsets would be more likely to express willingness to engage in bridging activities when they were framed in ways consistent (fitting) versus inconsistent (nonfitting) with their more chronic orientations. Findings supported our hypotheses with some qualifiers and revealed important political, racial and gender group differences on motivation and bridge-building for different types of engagement activities.