Do We Appeal to the Knowledge of Our Political Rivals
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7150319 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Almos C Molnar (0009-0003-2559-428X, Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences Brown University, corresponding author), Vini A Rupchandani (Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences Brown University), Steven A Sloman (0000-0001-8223-3788, Institut des Sciences Cognitives), Steven Sloman (Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences Brown University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | e70177-e70177 |
| Publication date | 2026-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cognitive Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0364-0213 • E-ISSN: 1551-6709 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/cogs.70177 |
| PMID | 41587395 |
| OpenAlex | W7125699916 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 33 |
Categorical explanations involve the use of labels to account for various properties of the explanandum. Prior research shows that the degree to which a label is perceived to be entrenched in society impacts the judged quality of the categorical explanation that invokes it regardless of how informative the explanation actually is. The aim of the present paper is to investigate whether the label entrenchment effect persists even when the label is said to be entrenched only in a particular community (rather than in society at large) and whether one's relationship to the entrenching community mediates the effect. Across five online behavioral experiments, we show that US partisans (Democrats and Republicans) rated the informativeness of a circular categorical explanation as higher when the label it invokes is entrenched in their own political community than when it is entrenched in the rival political community. However, being entrenched in the rival political community led to higher informativeness judgments than not being entrenched at all. Finally, we show that the effect does not occur when the label is entrenched in an epistemically suspect community, the Flat Earth Society
Appeal · Categorical variable · Politics · Suspect · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology
The misunderstood limits of folk science
Google Effects on Memory
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams
A Computer Network Model of Human Transactive Memory
Cognitive Interdependence in Close Relationships
Against Democracy
The Bias That Divides Us
Are formal explanations mere placeholders or pointers
Transactive Memory
Varieties of Confirmation Bias
The Division of Cognitive Labor
Political Extremism Is Supported by an Illusion of Understanding
How others drive our sense of understanding of policies
Seeking the Category
Opinions on Fictitious Issues
Biased assimilation and attitude polarization
Motivated skepticism
The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |