Group Identity and Belief Formation: A Decomposition of Political Polarization

137 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2023

See all articles by Kevin Bauer

Kevin Bauer

University of Mannheim; Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE

Yan Chen

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - School of Information

Florian Hett

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz - Faculty of Law and Economics

Michael Kosfeld

Goethe University Frankfurt; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 19, 2023

Abstract

How does group identity affect belief formation? To address this question, we conduct a series of online experiments with a representative sample of individuals in the US. Using the setting of the 2020 US presidential election, we find evidence of intergroup preference across three distinct components of the belief formation cycle: a biased prior belief, avoid-ance of outgroup information sources, and a belief-updating process that places greater (less) weight on prior (new) information. We further find that an intervention reducing the salience of information sources decreases outgroup information avoidance by 50%. In a social learn-ing context in wave 2, we find participants place 33% more weight on ingroup than outgroup guesses. Through two waves of interventions, we identify source utility as the mechanism driving group effects in belief formation. Our analyses indicate that our observed effects are driven by groupy participants who exhibit stable and consistent intergroup preferences in both allocation decisions and belief formation across all three waves. These results suggest that policymakers could reduce the salience of group and partisan identity associated with a policy to decrease outgroup information avoidance and increase policy uptake.

Keywords: group identity, information demand, information processing, political polarization

JEL Classification: D47, C78, C92, D82

Suggested Citation

Bauer, Kevin and Chen, Yan and Hett, Florian and Kosfeld, Michael, Group Identity and Belief Formation: A Decomposition of Political Polarization (December 19, 2023). SAFE Working Paper No. 409, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4670473 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4670473

Kevin Bauer

University of Mannheim ( email )

L15
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Mannheim, 68131
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.bwl.uni-mannheim.de/bauer/

Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE ( email )

(http://www.safe-frankfurt.de)
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 3
Frankfurt am Main, 60323
Germany

Yan Chen

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - School of Information ( email )

304 West Hall
550 East University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1092
United States

Florian Hett

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz - Faculty of Law and Economics ( email )

Chair of Corporate Finance
D-55099 Mainz, 55128
Germany

Michael Kosfeld (Contact Author)

Goethe University Frankfurt ( email )

Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 4
Frankfurt am Main, 60323
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 7 / 9
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute) ( email )

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

University of Bonn - Center for Development Research (ZEF) ( email )

Walter-Flex-Str. 3
Bonn, NRW 53113
Germany

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