Publications
America's Divided Mind
Deepening toxic polarization in the United States is a profound threat to the American people and to the very core of American Democracy. After 30 years of working around the globe to bring peace and reconciliation to deeply divided societies, Beyond Conflict launched an unprecedented research project in 2018, the Beyond Conflict Polarization Index™, with leading brain and behavioral scientists to assess the psychological factors that fuel polarization.
Our research has found a consistent pattern: Americans incorrectly believe that members of the other party dehumanize, dislike, and disagree with them about twice as much as they actually do. In short, we believe we’re more polarized than we really are—and that misperception can drive us even further apart. The divide is correlated with outcomes that are consequential for democracy and represent a new degree of toxic polarization in America.
Renewing American Democracy
Renewing American Democracy: Navigating A Changing Nation analyzes America’s current social divides through the lens of social science to understand how threats–both real and perceived–shape our sense of identity, our feelings of belonging, and our perceptions of status and power relations in society, all of which have downstream impacts on our behavior, and ultimately, the health of our democracy.
The study builds on Beyond Conflict’s earlier research on partisan divisions in the America’s Divided Mind report, expanding the focus beyond polarization to explore a broader range of psychological processes that drive social division and threaten American democracy.
America's Divided Mind
Meta-Perception Correction Intervention Video
Democrats and Republicans significantly overestimate the difference between them on key issues, as well as how much the other side dislikes or dehumanizes them. Following the release of the America’s Divided Mind report in 2020, Beyond Conflict and its research partners developed a video designed to correct these misperceptions. This video, which features everyday Americans from across the country, was named one of the most effective tools to reduce support for political violence, anti-democratic attitudes, and animosity across partisan lines in Stanford University’s Strengthening Democracy Challenge.
A Guide to Understanding and Using Meta-Perception Correction Interventions
An Emerging Tool in the Polarization Reduction Toolbox
Amidst rising toxic polarization and democratic backsliding, it is more urgent than ever to use evidence-based approaches in charting a new path forward.
This report builds upon and contextualizes our body of meta-perception research as part of a broader, nuanced strategy for strengthening healthy democratic dialogue and mutual understanding, providing recommendations for practitioners to holistically integrate these insights into real-world polarization reduction efforts.
The Brain on Authoritarianism
The Horizons Project and Beyond Conflict partnered to create this video on ‘The Brain on Authoritarianism’ to support broad-based “united front” organizing in response to the rising authoritarian threat in the US and globally. Better understanding the brain’s response to fear, toxic othering, and threats to social identity will help pro-democracy organizers to confront the authoritarian playbook and come together across difference to work more effectively towards a multi-racial, pluralistic, and inclusive democracy.
A Toolkit for Faith Leaders Facing Crisis and Division
This toolkit equips leaders with trauma-informed strategies to address and mitigate conflict effectively. It emphasizes understanding trauma as an external issue and a personal and communal experience that profoundly shapes reactions and interactions during crises.
Using the ALRM Framework, leaders can foster environments where members feel heard and supported, countering the tendencies toward polarization that often exacerbate crises. This approach encourages active engagement across divides, challenging leaders to build bridges even when withdrawing feels easier. Importantly, the framework helps leaders recognize how competing perceptions of harm and morality drive divisions, providing tools to navigate these perceptions thoughtfully.
Faith leaders can apply tailored actions from the framework to promote healing, facilitate open dialogue, and maintain ongoing support, enhancing community resilience in facing adversities.
Youth, Social and Behavioral Change, and Violent Extremism in Niger
This policy note, produced in partnership with the National Democratic Institute and the Resolve Network, highlights the importance of addressing exclusionary norms and beliefs about young people held by community elites, along with the need to support opportunities for youth leadership and agency in peacebuilding efforts. More broadly, this piece demonstrates the under-utilized potential to incorporate behavioral science into extremism prevention programming for increased and more sustainable impact.
Policy Brief for Policymakers and Practitioners
Decoding Dehumanization
Dehumanization – the perception of other people as less than human – is a psychological process that has accompanied some of the worst atrocities in human history. A growing body of scientific knowledge is uncovering and revealing the psychological processes and brain mechanisms like dehumanization that shape violent human behavior. Beyond Conflict and its scientific partners have developed a series of novel, validated measures of dehumanization which have been tested with over 10,000 people in over a dozen different countries. Initial findings offer practical actionable interventions for practitioners and policymakers about the science of dehumanization as well as provide suggestions for its practical applications.
Initial Impact of The Field Guide for Barefoot Psychology
Story, Science, and Self-Care in a Refugee Community
The Field Guide for Barefoot Psychology is an educational and psychosocial support program for communities affected by stress and trauma. The Guide, implemented through a participatory community engagement strategy, aims to clarify why and how adverse experiences can affect the brain, body, and social behavior, and to provide specific information and exercises to ameliorate the effects of stress and trauma, improve emotion regulation, and build resilience.
The Field Guide’s content was designed jointly by neuroscientists, trauma recovery professionals and refugees in Jordan. It was designed to be accessible and sensitive to the social, cultural, and religious context of the MENA region, using culturally-relevant metaphor, story, and exercises.
Authoritarianism
Understanding the Psychological Underpinnings of Democracy
Democracy is in decline—and authoritarianism in on the rise—in the United States and around the world.
This issue spotlight highlights the urgent need to better understand the psychology of what drives groups apart and to translate an emerging body of academic research on topics including identity threat, sacred values, and affective polarization into actionable evidence-based solutions to increase inclusive democratic practice.