February 2025
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15 Reads
Peace and Conflict Journal of Peace Psychology
Reducing bipartisan animosity via correcting misperceptions of outgroup members lacks evidence to foster democratic behavior–intentions. We developed a short metacognitive training (MCT) for U.S. Republican leaners intended to induce identification-based metacognitive doubt. We expected this MCT to reduce indicators of cognitive and affective polarization and to foster democratic behavior–intentions compared to an education and a no-treatment control condition. We randomly assigned 908 U.S. Republican leaners to an MCT condition comprising 15 question–answer option items and feedbacks (n = 295) versus an education control condition (n = 299) versus a no-treatment control condition (n = 314). We observed that Republican leaners in the MCT condition were less cognitively and affectively polarized with regard to Liberals compared to the no-treatment control condition (ds between 0.23 [p = .006] and 0.34 [p ≤ .001]). We also observed that Republican leaners in the MCT condition were more tolerant toward Liberals (ds between 0.19 and 0.26, ps ≤ .022) and toward other outgroups (ds between 0.16 [p = .054] and 0.21 [p = .009]) and showed more democratic behavior–intentions (ds between 0.19 and 0.32, ps ≤ .024) compared to both control conditions. Through our intervention, research participants were encouraged to form compromises and coalitions with opponents, which is a crucial aspect of democracy.