How to Decrease Polarization and Run Mega Studies With Jan Voelkel

The Rhys Show

In this episode Jan Voelkel, Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University and also a member of the Polarization and Social Change Lab, joins us to talk about how to decrease polarization and run mega studies. Jan is the leading author of “The Strengthening Democracy Challenge” a mega study which brought academics, practitioners, and industry experts together in a collective effort to identify effective interventions to improve Americans’ commitment to democratic principles of political engagement. If Polarization is a worry, then in this chapter you will find hope. You will learn about the kind of memetic engineering we can do as a society to nudge us towards a less polarized and more positive reality and you will discover a way to do these beautiful mega studies. We talk about polarization, how to decrease polarization, The Strengthening Democracy Challenge mega study, implementing this mega study into social media platforms and partisan animosity vs. support for anti democratic practices. Dive in! You will discover two ads that went viral intending to decrease polarization! SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/rhyslindmark JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/PDAPkhNxrC Who is Jan Voelkel? Jan is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at Stanford University and also a member of the Polarization and Social Change Lab. Jan studies political persuasion, group conflicts, and meta-science. Jan Voelkel aims to identify the endogenous and exogenous factors that divide ideologically dissimilar groups, design and test interventions that enable more constructive discourse about moral and political issues and examine new ways to increase the reproducibility of scientific findings. Topics: Welcome Jan Voelkel to The Rhys Show!: (00:00:00) The importance of making a better social media ecosystem: (00:02:43) The Strengthening Democracy Challenge: overall setup & lessons learned: (00:03:38) Key patterns of the interventions that worked for people: (00:09:55) Partisan animosity vs. support for anti democratic practices: (00:13:45) Implementing “The Strengthening Democracy challenge” learnings into social media platforms: (00:27:33) An optimal version of what a new feed should look like: (00:32:45) Why are we in this hyperpolarized place & how to escape from it: (00:38:07) From a sociological perspective: what is going on that is making people polarized & decreasing the partisan animosity: (00:43:05) Recommendations for those who want to run mega study: (00:46:25) Overrated or underrated?: (00:52:07) Wrap-up: (00:54:37) Mentioned resources: Heineken ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3a8MdloAAM Political rivals in Utah ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vLo_KJLJgE Connect with Jan Voelkel: PASCL Standford Web: https://www.pascl.stanford.edu/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jgvoelkel The Strengthening Democracy Challenge: https://www.strengtheningdemocracychallenge.org/