Reality Bites: Partisan Beliefs as Enforced Norms

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: Robbett, Andrea; Matthews, Peter Hans
• 署名单位: Middlebury College; Aalto University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaf062
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Bias; polarization; PSYCHOLOGY

摘要

How do partisan social norms influence stated factual beliefs about politics? We report the results of two online experiments, conducted on the eve of the 2024 US election, in which participants evaluated factual political statements. In a motivating experiment, we first elicit social norms over reported beliefs and find that Democrats and Republicans identify divergent partisan norms over factual statements. In our main experiment, we find that these norms influence stated beliefs: learning about which statements co-partisans believe are appropriate for the group and/or that co-partisans could punish or reward them both cause respondents' factual statements to be less accurate and more in line with partisan biases.