Why does 'political polarization' occur?



Political speech tends to be grouped as 'right-wing' or 'left-wing', and in fact, right-wing and left-wing people have similar opinions. Whether such political polarization of why arises of,

complex systems institutions of Austria have done research on Complexity Science Hub Vienna has been commentary research team (CSH).

A Weighted Balance Model of Opinion Hyperpolarization
http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/23/3/5.html

A Weighted Balance Model of Opinion Hyperpolarization – David Garcia
https://dgarcia.eu/2020/04/22/a-weighted-balance-model-of-opinion-hyperpolarization/

A new theory about political polarization
https://phys.org/news/2020-06-theory-political-polarization.html

A 'some degree of polarization' of politics, like the two-party system represented by the United States, is considered normal and beneficial for democracy. But in recent years, the right and left have become even more divergent than ever. In addition, there have been various kinds of assertions even if we call them “right wing” and “left wing”, but in recent years, “right wing has this kind of opinion” and “left wing has this kind of opinion”. It has been pointed out that the number of similar opinions has increased.

The CSH research team explains that the cause of this political polarization lies in ' balance theory .' Balance theory is a psychological theory proposed by American psychologist Fritz Heider , 'Human tries to maintain cognitive balance in interpersonal relationships.'

According to the balance theory, 'humans want a state in which 'favorability to others' and 'favorability to opinion' are balanced. For example, if 'a person I like' 'has a political opinion that I like', then the cognitive relationship is maintained and the psychological balance is maintained because the favor for others and the favor for the opinions are the same. Condition is stable. Similarly, if 'a person who dislikes me has a political view that he dislikes', it is psychologically stable because the favor for others is the same as the favor for the opinion. ..

However, if ''the person I like' 'has a political view that I hate' or ''the person who I hate' 'has a political view that I like'' , The balance of cognitive relationships is upset and psychologically unstable. In such a situation, people will adjust their opinions to the other person in order to restore their emotional balance.



When the balance theory is established by simulation, the research team gradually gathers opinions within a group with the same favor, and the groups that have gathered are hostile to each other. It is said that the conflict between the groups gradually deepened. Below is a visualization of the simulation, where the X-axis, the Y-axis, and the Z-axis represent different degrees of approval for different political issues. Under the assumption of balance theory, it is visually understandable that points with different views on the three political issues will be grouped into two groups, and eventually the conflict will deepen.

Emergence of Hyperpolarization from Weighted Balance-YouTube


``People who are professional choices are very likely to be in favor of same-sex marriage, but against nuclear energy and marijuana, '' said one member of the research team, David Garcia. Since each is a separate political issue, there should be more than one set of pros and cons for each, but political polarization can actually result in a smaller number of combinations.' I am.

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