How to Engage the Exhausted Middle Majority?

Peter T. Coleman &

Lan H. Phan�

• In times like these, the voices of more extreme actors tend to control our national political discourse, while moderates become increasingly disillusioned and disengaged.

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• Science can help to identify ways to mobilize more moderate citizens to reengage with our democratic processes and more actively foster unity and solidarity across our differences.

Four Basic Types of Motives (Higgins, 2012)

Although there are a wide variety of reasons people engage in bridge-building activities, psychological research has identified four basic types of motivational orientations.

• Regulatory focus (what we are motivated to achieve - some of us are much more motivated to prevent harm, while others are moved to achieve ideal outcomes):
• Preventive, or motivated by a desire to prevent or mitigate harm, and
• Promotive, or aimed at achieving desired outcomes such as intergroup tolerance or harmony.
• Regulatory mode (how we prefer to go about achieving our goals - people vary in their preference to “Get it right” vs “Just do it”):
• Assessment, or the tendency to pause and evaluate the best way to proceed.
• Locomotion, or just moving on actively toward our goals, and

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What Motivates People to Engage in Bridge Building?�

Research has shown that people are often motivated to engage in bridge building across moral and political differences in four basic ways:

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• To Avoid Harm – Some people are mostly motivated to reduce negative outcomes of toxic polarization;
• To Seek Solutions – Some people seek ideal positive outcomes through depolarization;

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• By Getting it Right – Some people want to evaluate the best way to achieve depolarization before acting;
• By Just Getting it Done – Other people  prefer to just get going – to move forward to "get it done." 

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Framing and Fit Effects (Higgins, 2000)

• Bridge-building activities can be framed as either preventing harm or promoting positive outcomes, and can comprise either more locomotion or assessment-related activities.
• Prior research has supported a “fit hypothesis,” which finds that when people’s motives are consistent with how activities are framed or characterized, they are much more likely to engage in the activity.

Summary of Major Findings

Across 6 studies:

• Extreme Motivation-Framing Fit Effects. More extreme differences between prevention vs. promotion and assessment vs. locomotion mindtypes were associated with significant mindset-framing “fit” effects.
• Promotion Matters - Best orientation, framing and fit for bridging racial differences
• Demographic Differences Matter.
• Women always better - always more willing to engage, Assess
• Dems higher in promotion, more willing to engage in BB, in Assessment, in Loco community
• Reps more locomotion-oriented
• Different Types of BB Activities Matter. BB activities with focus on political differences vs commonalities important - Locomotion-Community-gathering activities most popular.

Prevention

Motive/

Frame

Promotion

Motive/

Frame

Assessment

Motive/Activity

Locomotion

Motive/Activity

Community

Activity

Political

Activity

Political

Activity

Political

Activity

Political

Activity

Community

Activity

Community

Activity

Community

Activity

USA Bridge Building Studies

Practical Take-aways

• To increase engagement, bridge-building organizations could use brief pre-measures to assess participant motives and then frame their activities (via website or written materials) to fit with the P/P, A/L orientation.
• BBOs could offer different types of activities for distinct demographic groups (e.g., Black v. White Republicans).
• Racial-BB in the US should focus on promotion framing for community-gathering activities to broaden outreach.

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Go to: https://icccr.tc.columbia.edu/resources/what-motivates-people-to-engage-in-bridge-building/