Polarization of America: The Present Political Climate

The purpose of the present study was to examine the association between political extremism and the likeliness to help out-group members, particularly individuals who have opposing political ideals. We hypothesized that people who are extreme on the political spectrum will present as less altruistic to out-group members and more altruistic to in-group members. This was a randomized, between-subject design which recruited 259 participants, 18 years or older. Participants were asked if they self-identified as extremely politically progressive or conservative, and if so, they were randomized to one of two vignettes, representing either black lives matter or blue lives matter. Preliminary results indicated participants randomized to the black lives matter condition scored significantly higher than those randomized to the blue lives matter condition on the helping questionnaire. A significant interaction was observed between political orientation and condition with the helping questionnaire. Specifically, those that indicated extremely progressive and were randomized to the blue lives matter condition scored significantly lower in the helping than all other groups. How this might impact society is notional, and whether complacent altruism towards extremists can be detrimental is subjective. However, understanding how these evolutionary instincts present themselves can help us begin to address misconceptions of competing political affiliations.