Beyond Directional Motivated Reasoning: Social Identity and Partisan Truth

When truth is defined by our side, democracy is in peril. As anti-vaxxers and climate-change deniers compete with scientists, and thousands who believe in divergent realities set upon the Australian Parliament and US Capitol, research into the psychology of partisan truth could not be timelier. This project advances knowledge through the use of representative surveys and experimental analyses to determine how divergent truth understandings: (1) emerge among rational people, (2) enhance truth polarization, & (3) can be minimized by shared identity between people. A new model of truth understandings will be developed, and people's personal and group identities will be examined to understand how and when the values and norms associated with these identities guide attention, memory and rationality, ultimately determining what people see as truth. The outcomes of this project will enable Australians to: (1) develop policies and practices, including educational curricula, that p