It is said Perception is Reality. A look into the Perception Gap.

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   tsmogposted 19 months ago

   More in Common partnered with YouGov using a survey of 2,100 people to discover the Perception Gap regard political parties. "The conclusion? Americans have a deeply distorted understanding of each other. We call this America’s “Perception Gap”. Overall, Democrats and Republicans imagine almost twice as many of their political opponents as reality hold views they consider “extreme”. Even on the most controversial issues in our national debates, Americans are less divided than most of us think. This is good news for those worried about the character of this country. The majority of Americans hold views that may not be so different from your own."
   
   An interesting read with plenty of graphics to get the jest of what the Perception Gap is. There also is a Quiz for the curious and adventurous.
   
   The Perception Gap
   
   Do you have a yawning Perception Gap, or are you in sync with the American public? Our study explores how Americans tend to have a distorted understanding of people on the other side of the aisle, what causes it, and why it matters.
   
   https://perceptiongap.us/
   
   What do you think?

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      James A Watkinsposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      That said, conservatives do understand the views of leftist far more accurately than leftists understand conservative views. How could they not, as they swim in a leftist culture constantly.
      
      In a study Jonathan Haidt did with Jesse Graham and Brian Nosek, they tested how well liberals and conservatives could understand each other. "We asked more than two thousand American visitors to fill out the Moral Foundations Qyestionnaire. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out normally, answering as themselves. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out as they think a “typical liberal” would respond. One-third of the time they were asked to fill it out as a “typical conservative” would respond. This design allowed us to examine the stereotypes that each side held about the other. More important, it allowed us to assess how accurate they were by comparing people’s expectations about “typical” partisans to the actual responses from partisans on the left and the right)’ Who was best able to pretend to be the other?
      
      "The results were clear and consistent. Moderates and conservatives were most accurate in their predictions, whether they were pretending to be liberals or conservatives. Liberals were the least accurate, especially those who described themselves as “very liberal.”"

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         tsmogposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Interesting. Thanks for info. I will look deeper into it later.

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            GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

            James also sparked my interest, so here you go.
            
            The Moral Stereotypes Of Liberals And Conservatives
            
            GA

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               tsmogposted 19 months agoin reply to this

               Just in case you are curious linked below is the complete paper published at National Library of Medicine. I read from the abstract through the methods, which is all the science stuff and statistics, then finally the discussion. A lot to ponder and will probably go back and read it another day. Next, is the final paragraph of the discussion. One thing to consider is the key word is 'Moral'.
               
               "Chambers and Melnyk [40] conclude: “Partisan group members suffer the misapprehension that their adversaries work to actively and willfully oppose their own sides' interests rather than promoting the values that are central to their adversaries' doctrine…it is this perception that may spawn the feelings of distrust and animosity that partisans feel toward their rivals and may ultimately fuel conflict between partisan groups” (p.1309). In this study, we focused on the moral values of ideological opponents, and their perceptions of the moral values of either side, in order to understand the moral “distrust and animosity” endemic to the liberal-conservative culture war. We found that there are real moral differences between liberals and conservatives, but people across the political spectrum exaggerate the magnitude of these differences and in so doing create opposing moral stereotypes that are shared by all. Calling attention to this unique form of stereotyping, and to the fact that liberal and conservative moral values are less polarized than most people think, could be effective ways of reducing the distrust and animosity of current ideological divisions.
               
               The Moral Stereotypes of Liberals and Conservatives: Exaggeration of Differences across the Political Spectrum
               Jesse Graham, 1 , * Brian A. Nosek, 2 and Jonathan Haidt 3
               
               https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3520939/
               
               Edit: After leaving this post I searched 'morality of morality' for giggles arriving upon the article, "The Nature of Morality and Moral Theories" linked below. A short read considering the different ones. My conclusion is more food for thought and a good nap to let it gel
               
               The Nature of Morality and Moral Theories
               https://home.sandiego.edu/~baber/gender … ories.html

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                  GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

                  Thanks for the links. I'm good to go now.
                  
                  The point made by the quiz, for me, was the unexpected areas of error. The other stuff, (like our links), reinforces my perception of the 'whys'. Apply the 'whys' with the misperceptions, and bingo, you have some defined areas to reconsider.
                  
                  GA

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                     tsmogposted 19 months agoin reply to this

                     Yes, the quiz does reveal truths or thought to be truths for the self related to a greater context as I see it. The goal is to show perceptions on a scale for self contrast the greater group. It compares 'my' views of Democrats/Republicans vs the views of that group.
                     
                     Curious I took the quiz again this morning while knowing after reading about it my answers had a bias to them now. And, I thought about the question more. Interesting for me after taking it again is which questions I had the greater perception gap while afterward wondered why.
                     
                     For myself the greatest influence is directly or indirectly related to these forums since 2015 through the posters, the subject matters brought up, reading the links presented, and my inspired gallivanting Google University seeking more. Before 2015 I didn't care about politics at all. And, in my offline life I have no interactions on politics whatsoever.
                     
                     Also, regard The Moral Stereotypes of Liberals and Conservatives: Exaggeration of Differences across the Political Spectrum I thought it best to know what Jonathan Haidt's Moral Foundation Theory is sending me on a hunt. I discovered two articles about it posted below if curious. It was insightful while thinking about the published paper of the study, yet some of it was obvious.
                     
                     The Righteous Mind: Moral Foundations Theory by Divided We Fall (July 2018)
                     https://dividedwefall.org/the-righteous … ns-theory/
                     
                     Moral Foundations.org (There is a approx. 8 min video explaining it.)
                     https://moralfoundations.org/
                     
                     If anything it gives food for thought, however I won't look deep into until after my present study on Beliefs. I do see those two; Belief and Morality, very much connected as well as they both are foundational.

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      GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      That was a thought-provoking read. Being lazy about it, here are two points that stood out for me:
      
      "Education Doesn’t Help, Either
      Education is intended to make us better informed about the world, so we’d expect that the more educated you become, the more you understand what other Americans think. In fact, the more educated a person is, the worse their Perception Gap – with one critical exception. This trend only holds true for Democrats, not Republicans. In other words, while Republicans’ misperceptions of Democrats do not improve with higher levels of education, Democrats’ understanding of Republicans actually gets worse with every additional degree they earn. This effect is so strong that Democrats without a high school diploma are three times more accurate than those with a postgraduate degree."
      
      and. . .
      
      "More than three quarters of Americans believe our differences are not so great that we cannot come together."
      
      I agree with both. And then I took the quiz. Oh hell.
      
      I'm still thinking about it, but my gap for Democrats was  -2 and for Republicans, it was 0.
      
      With the caveat that I am trusting the quiz's survey results, it seems that when I was 'off', I was really off, on both sides.
      
      Then I took the quiz again. Without recalling the previous result numbers and adjusting for them, I tried to keep 'adjustments' from what I now knew, to 'hints' that I was too extreme—either way. So moderation of previous answers was minor.
      
      My scores flipped. 0 for Democrats, and 2 for Republicans. There are really good thread topics in your link.
      .
      GA

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         tsmogposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Thanks GA! Like I shared with Ken the first time I took the quiz I did not follow the instructions correctly. My scores were higher and in line for independents.
         
         I like both quotes you shared with the first giving pause. Yet, when reading why those Democrats with higher degrees differed leads me to consider socialization and how impactful that is. The second quote in my mind offers hope especially consider average Joe/Jill voter.

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            Ken Burgessposted 19 months agoin reply to this

            I think that part about Degrees explains the disconnect between DC and common America.
            
            It explains the "Deplorables" perception, it explains the "threat to the nation" perception.
            
            Without doubt, those that are well off, are well educated, they are the ones that roam the halls of DC, as well as fill the staff of Harvard, Yale, etc.
            
            For them the hardships of working-class Americans as well as the hardships of those in poverty are not something experienced, it is more theoretical and abstract.
            
            The fact that they have far more interactions with plumbers, electricians, bakers and grocery clerks in their daily routines is what likely leads to their disdain and dismissal of those people... they are dependent on them to survive and something about that rubs many of them raw.
            
            As smart as they are, they are totally dependent on the working class, most of them are incapable of dealing with problems that arise in their home, in their car, in most things that a working class stiff learns to deal with or has some friend that can fix for them.
            
            To say nothing of their dependency on Police, EMTs, Town and State employees to keep them safe and secure.

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      Credence2posted 19 months agoin reply to this

      I checked in with a 13 percent perception gap. Is that good?

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         GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Which statement were you the most wrong about?
         
         Mine was : "It is important that men are protected from false accusations pertaining to sexual assault" I didn't give Democrats enough credit.
         
         GA

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            Credence2posted 19 months agoin reply to this

            Questions involving racism and sexism in America had the largest gaps 37 and 22, respectively. I gave Republicans the least credit.

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   Ken Burgessposted 19 months ago

   That was an interesting test.
   
   I think taking it helps hold up a mirror to your perceptions for sure.

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      tsmogposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      It caught me off guard at first as I at first did not answer correctly and had to redo it.

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   Ken Burgessposted 19 months ago

   Such a fence sitter... must be lonely

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      GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      How could one be a fence-sitter when the topic is perception accuracy?
      
      GA

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         Ken Burgessposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         Well you accurately see the positions of both sides, so well you test almost flawlessly, meaning without perception bias.
         
         That can only be done by someone that is not entrenched in either camp.

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            GA Andersonposted 19 months agoin reply to this

            Got it. But, there were serious places where I was really wrong.
            
            I thought only the Far Left would support abolishing ICE. I pegged it at 20% but the self-identified number was a lot more, 55%, (? I closed my results tab, so I'm going on recall).
            
            For the Republicans, I thought only 40% would think there is still racism in America, the quiz number was 80%. *shrug
            
            I think your point about looking in the mirror is true. Using the quiz as a reference, its questions could be good discussion points.
            
            GA

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   quicksandposted 19 months ago

   Hi James! How are you doing? Good to see you again!

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 19 months ago

   I like this conclusion, but then, I would. (I seem to be a bit of a pollyanna.)
   
   "A healthy democracy will always have some disagreement and conflict; it’s a necessary component of progress. But democracy also requires a sense of shared values and commitments, and a willingness to find common ground. This study suggests that there is more such territory than many imagine. By understanding our Perception Gaps, working to overcome our mistrust of the other side, and resisting the forces that seek to divide us, we can advance towards a future that we all want."
   
   More in Common Perception Gap
   © 2019 More in Common. All rights reserved.

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      Ken Burgessposted 19 months agoin reply to this

      Right, the problem is not with "the people".
      
      Its with those "elites" those highly educated Lefties that have such bias and issue with perception.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 19 months agoin reply to this

         ... highly indoctrinated.

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   IslandBitesposted 19 months ago

   I got 4% for Dems and 8% for Republicans.

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