Does Intergroup Contact Reduce Affective Polarization? A Natural Experiment
Dehua SunABSTRACT
Objective
Reducing affective polarization has become a priority in discussions of American democracy. Intergroup contact is a promising and practical remedy, but it rarely occurs without intervention.
Methods
This study examines contact among American undergraduates who naturally interact on campus. By taking advantage of first‐year random housing assignments, the analysis compares students with ideological outgroup roommates to those with ideological ingroup roommates. Data come from an original survey at a private university in April 2023.
Results
Students with outgroup roommates report greater favorability toward outgroup students while showing little ideological change, compared to those with ingroup roommates. They also report a higher percentage of ideological outgroup friends and more frequent interactions with them.
Conclusion
The findings suggest that contact can contribute to depolarization in real‐world settings, and social environments such as universities can bring students with different views together.