Dr. Jamil Zaki

My late friend, Emile Bruneau, collected some data where he gathered Republicans and Democrats' views on immigration. He said, what would you want immigration to look like where zero is the borders are totally closed and 100 is they're totally open? And he plotted the distributions of what that looks like.

My late friend, Emile Bruneau, collected some data where he gathered Republicans and Democrats' views on immigration. He said, what would you want immigration to look like where zero is the borders are totally closed and 100 is they're totally open? And he plotted the distributions of what that looks like.

He also asked people on either side, what do you think the other side would respond if asked that same question? And he plotted those distributions as well. Other side meaning which group? If you're a Democrat, what do you think Republicans would want? And if you're a Republican, what would Democrats want? And the distributions are totally different.

He also asked people on either side, what do you think the other side would respond if asked that same question? And he plotted those distributions as well. Other side meaning which group? If you're a Democrat, what do you think Republicans would want? And if you're a Republican, what would Democrats want? And the distributions are totally different.

He also asked people on either side, what do you think the other side would respond if asked that same question? And he plotted those distributions as well. Other side meaning which group? If you're a Democrat, what do you think Republicans would want? And if you're a Republican, what would Democrats want? And the distributions are totally different.

The distributions of our actual preferences are like a hill with two peaks. So Republicans want more closed borders. Democrats want them more open. But they're not that far apart, first of all, the means. And there's a lot of overlap in the distributions. The distributions of our perceptions are two hills on opposite sides of a landscape.

The distributions of our actual preferences are like a hill with two peaks. So Republicans want more closed borders. Democrats want them more open. But they're not that far apart, first of all, the means. And there's a lot of overlap in the distributions. The distributions of our perceptions are two hills on opposite sides of a landscape.

The distributions of our actual preferences are like a hill with two peaks. So Republicans want more closed borders. Democrats want them more open. But they're not that far apart, first of all, the means. And there's a lot of overlap in the distributions. The distributions of our perceptions are two hills on opposite sides of a landscape.

Republicans think that Democrats want totally open borders and Democrats think Republicans want totally closed borders. And this same pattern plays out for all sorts of issues where we think the other side is much more extreme. We think the average member of the other side is much more extreme than they really are. There's also work on meta-perceptions.

Republicans think that Democrats want totally open borders and Democrats think Republicans want totally closed borders. And this same pattern plays out for all sorts of issues where we think the other side is much more extreme. We think the average member of the other side is much more extreme than they really are. There's also work on meta-perceptions.

Republicans think that Democrats want totally open borders and Democrats think Republicans want totally closed borders. And this same pattern plays out for all sorts of issues where we think the other side is much more extreme. We think the average member of the other side is much more extreme than they really are. There's also work on meta-perceptions.

What do you think the other side thinks about you? And it turns out that people on both sides imagine that their rivals hate them twice as much as their rivals really do. There's work on democratic norms that my grad student Louisa Santos collected, where we overestimate how anti-democratic the other side is by two times. And Rob has collected data on violence.

What do you think the other side thinks about you? And it turns out that people on both sides imagine that their rivals hate them twice as much as their rivals really do. There's work on democratic norms that my grad student Louisa Santos collected, where we overestimate how anti-democratic the other side is by two times. And Rob has collected data on violence.

What do you think the other side thinks about you? And it turns out that people on both sides imagine that their rivals hate them twice as much as their rivals really do. There's work on democratic norms that my grad student Louisa Santos collected, where we overestimate how anti-democratic the other side is by two times. And Rob has collected data on violence.

How much do you think the other side would support violence to advance their aims? And here, the overestimates are 400%. So we think that the average person on the other side is four times as enthusiastic about violence as they really are. We have an image in our mind of the other as violent extremists who want to burn down the system.

How much do you think the other side would support violence to advance their aims? And here, the overestimates are 400%. So we think that the average person on the other side is four times as enthusiastic about violence as they really are. We have an image in our mind of the other as violent extremists who want to burn down the system.

How much do you think the other side would support violence to advance their aims? And here, the overestimates are 400%. So we think that the average person on the other side is four times as enthusiastic about violence as they really are. We have an image in our mind of the other as violent extremists who want to burn down the system.

And again, we've talked about the warped media ecosystem that we're in, and that probably contributes here. But the fact is that those misperceptions are making all the problems that we fear worse. Because if you think that the other side is gearing up for war, what do you do? You have to defend yourself. And so we're caught in this almost cycle of escalation that really very few of us want.

And again, we've talked about the warped media ecosystem that we're in, and that probably contributes here. But the fact is that those misperceptions are making all the problems that we fear worse. Because if you think that the other side is gearing up for war, what do you do? You have to defend yourself. And so we're caught in this almost cycle of escalation that really very few of us want.

And again, we've talked about the warped media ecosystem that we're in, and that probably contributes here. But the fact is that those misperceptions are making all the problems that we fear worse. Because if you think that the other side is gearing up for war, what do you do? You have to defend yourself. And so we're caught in this almost cycle of escalation that really very few of us want.