References to tables and figures are denoted by an italicized t and f.
For the benefit of digital users, indexed terms that span two pages (e.g., 52– 53) may, on occasion, appear on only one of those pages.
12 Years a Slave (play), 46
30 Rock (television show), 154
50 Cent, 139–40
abortion
state bans, 149
Adams, Henry, 40
affect theory, Tomkins, 47–48
Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obamacare and, 84–86
interpersonal contact, 120
support for same-sex marriage, 140 see also black Americans
age
AIDS death and, 58
health coverage, 84
interpersonal contact, 120–21
Medicare, 85–86
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), 57. See also HIV/AIDS
Alexa, 67–68
algorithms
social media, 70–71
Allport, Gordon, 121
Amazon Echo, 67–68
American Psychological Association, 96
American Trends Panel, 43–44
amygdala, 92
definition, 96
handling, 97–98
in political discussions, 96–97
anticipation, 93–94
anxiety
dealing with political, 100–1
in political discussions, 98–100
Apple HomePod, 67–68
Apple News, 31–32
Aristotle, 47
Ashe, Arthur, 64
Athlete Ally, 131
Atlantic (journal), 40–41
attitudes, 160n17
comfortableness with people with HIV/AIDS over time, 59–62, 61f
definition, 12
HIV/AIDS as punishment, 58–59, 60f
marijuana usage, 13–14
marriage equality, 5, 14–16, 15f
minds changing about HIV/AIDS, 87
morality of gay or lesbian relations, 16
persuasion and, 118–19
theories of changing, 25–28
theory of dissonant identity priming (TDIP), 129–30, 130f
towards transgender, 46–47
autonomic nervous system, 92
Baby Boomers, 16
barrier to change, biased information processing, 28–33
biased information processing
barrier to change, 28–33
confirmation bias, 72–73
disconfirmation bias, 72–73
motivated reasoning, 72
prior attitude effect, 72–73
selective exposure, 71–72
The Big Sort (Bishop), 112–13
Bishop, Bill, 112–13
black Americans
attitudes toward same-sex marriage, 140
influential black leaders, 139–40
interpersonal contact, 120 see also African Americans
Booker, Cory, 139–40
boredom, 105
Bossypants (Fey), 154
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), 15–16
Bowling Alone (Putnam), 112–13
Brewer, Marilyn, 113
Bridges, Ruby, 64
Broockman, David, 126
Bryant, Anita, 103
Burnham, Walter Dean, 112–13
Bush, George W., 32–33
Carlson, Tucker, 72–73
Carnal, Bob G., 63
Carson, Ben, 102–3, 105, 174n162
centered, 109
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 56, 57
change, 137
diversity of people speaking in favor of, 139–41
hating partisanship disagreement, 146–47
information and data, 151–52
interpersonal contact and trust, 153–54
LGBT people and rights, 137–38
moving forward for, 151–54
partisan agreement and division on key issues, 143f
political conversations and, 144–45
power and political argument profiles, 148–50
role of institutions in, 141f, 141–44
understanding emotion, 152–53
chaos syndrome, 40–41
cisgender, 48–49
citizens, policy attitudes and opinions, 9
civility, 37
Clean Water Act, 123
Clean Water Action, 123
CMV (cytomegalovirus) transmission, 56
Collins, Jason, 131
coming out, conversations for, 24, 35–36
communication
conversational tone, 45–50
goals for interpersonal conversation, 34–35
key aspects of, 41
message content, 42–45
personalization and, 122–25
routes to persuasion, 26–2, 27f
setting for, 50–53
confirmation bias, 72–73
Congressional Black Caucus, 139–40
conversations
avoiding politics and religion, 40
concept of sameness, 111–12
empathy and moral elevation, 126–27
engaging in political issues, 34–35
face-to-face rather than online, 52–53
interpersonal interactions, 22–23
pitfalls of political, 17
planned and unplanned day-to-day, 150
power and political argument profiles, 148–50
settings for, 50–53
strategies and tactics for political, 17–18
success in, 35–36
uncomfortable, 22–25
winning, 144–45
Cook, Tony, 63
Cox, Laverne, 108
C-Span, 31–32
death penalty, attitudes toward, 13, 14f
deliberative democracy, 3, 4, 7, 147
democracy, disagreement and, 7–11
Democrats
criminal justice, 144
gun control, 142–43
healthcare coverage, 143–44
ideological sorting, 114
inter-party thermometer ratings, 43f
interpersonal contact of, 120–21
marriage to Republican, 146
Obamacare and ACA, 84
opinion of Republicans, 42, 113–14
partisan agreement and division on key issues, 142–43, 143f
partisanship, 29
role of institutions in change, 142
surveys of, 42–44
trust in government, 112–13
Department of Homeland Security, 1, 2
DeSoto School District, 64
disconfirmation bias, 72–73
emotion of, 101–3
handling, 103–5
LGBT people, 128
moral elevation vs., 128–29
understanding, 152–53
dual process theory
emotional processor (System 1), 89, 169n114
intuition, 88–89
logical processor (System 2), 89, 169n114
Eazy-E, 64
Edelman, 112
education
interpersonal contact, 120
political knowledge and, 30–31
The Education of Henry Adams (Adams), 40
ego-involvement, 75, 79–80, 151–52, 168n106
Ekman, Paul, 93
elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
information processing, 74
elderly people, 102
elites, 29–30
Elton John AIDS Foundation, 64
EMarketer, 67–68
emotion, 90
anger, 96–97
behavioral response, 90–91
definition of, 90
fear and anxiety, 98–100
importance of, 18
negative and positive, 18, 92–93
physiological response, 92
Plutchik’s wheel of, 93–94, 94f
political discussions and debate, 88
subjective component, 91–92
understanding, 152–53
understanding and classifying, 92–95
emotional persuasion, 106–9
valence and arousal, 106–9, 107t
appealing to, 153
moral elevation and, 126–29
personalization and, 122–25
in practice, 127–28
ethnicity
division, 36–37
interpersonal contact, 119–22
shared identity, 130
#EveryFan, 131
Facebook, 9–11, 28–29, 31–32, 69, 70, 72–74
Falwell, Jerry, 58–59
dealing with political, 100–1
in political discussions, 98–100
Federalist #34, 3–4
Federalist #78, 8–9
Ferriss, Timothy, 23
fight-or-flight response, 93–94, 97–98, 99
filter bubble, 69
Fox News, 72–73
Framers of Constitution, 3–4, 8–9
framing, 44–45
importance of issue framing, 164n62
personalized appeals in, 124
same-sex marriage, 45
framing theory, 44–45
Frank, Anne, 64
free speech, 44–45
fundraising, personalization in, 123–24
gender identity
division, 36–37
interpersonal contact, 122
questions about, 49
too personal disclosure, 124–25
General Social Survey, 137
geographic sorting, 114
GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), 46
Google Home, 67–68
Green Bay Packers, 131–34
groups
empathy and moral elevation, 126–29
interpersonal contact and, 119–22
personalization and empathy, 122–25
shared identity priming, 129–34
social identity formation, 116–18
Haidt, Jonathan, 89–90
Hamilton, William, 11
Han, Hahrie, 123–24
happiness, 93
Haring, Keith, 64
Harrison, Brian and Melissa Michelson 129–30, 130f
Obamacare vs. the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 58, 84–86
partisan agreement and division, 143f
support for, 143–44
transgender Americans, 149
HIV/AIDS, 57–58
attitudes reporting comfort around people with, 59–62, 61f
attitudes toward, as punishment, 58–59, 60f
changing minds on, 87
crisis, 15–16
disgust in crisis of, 103–5
information and public opinion, 58–66
knowledge and stigma about, 60–62, 62f
media coverage of epidemic, 62–66
public faces of, 64
Ryan White and, 62–64
hope and change rhetoric, Obama, 109
Hudson, Rock, 64
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), 57. See also HIV/AIDS
Human Rights Campaign, 46
Hussein, Saddam, 32–33
identity
opportunities for divisions, 36–37
partisan, 28–33
political party, 29
social and political groups, 41
social identity theory, 115–18
ideological sorting, 114
immigration system, 6, 101, 142–44, 143f, 149, 168n111
Independents
criminal justice, 144
healthcare coverage, 143–44
identity of, 161n35
interpersonal contact, 120–21
partisanship, 29
Republican-leaning, 16
information
biased information processing, 71–73
explosion of, 66–71
public opinion formation, 57–66
social judgment theory (SJT), 74–82
Instagram, 31–32
institutional trust. 141, 141f, 142
social fragmentation and, 112–15
social sorting phenomenon, 112–13
surveys of, 112
intergroup contact theory, Allport, 121
interpersonal contact
connection strategies, 134–35
personalization and, 153
in practice, 121–22
shared identities, 154
social division and, 119–22
intuition, 88–89
emotional processor (System 1), 89, 169n114
logical processor (System 2), 89, 169n114
social intuitionism, 89–90
Iraq War, 32–33
Islamic people, 103
issue involvement, 168n106
Jackson, Jesse, 139–40
Jackson, Michael, 64
Jefferson, Thomas, 8–9
Jenner, Caitlin, 48–49
John, Elton, 64
Johnson, Holly, 64
Johnson, Magic, 64
Jones, Robert P., 119
Kaiser Family Foundation, 59–60, 84
Kalla, Joshua, 126
Kingston, Maxine Hong, 156
Kluwe, Chris, 131
Knight Foundation, 66–67, 166n89
Kramer, Larry, 64
Krieger, Ali, 131
Krupnikov, Yanna, 146
Lawrence, Rev. Richard T., 132–34
Lawrence v. Texas (2003), 15–16
LeDoux, Joseph, 90
Legislation, Obamacare vs. the Affordable Care Act (ACA), 84–86
LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), 2, 5
appeals in support of rights for, 124–25
attitude change for, 37
attitudes toward, 46
change for rights of, 137–38
disgust for, 102, 103, 104, 105, 128
diversity of people speaking in favor of, 139–41
identities, 5
Pride nights of Major League Baseball, 131
public opinion about, 16–17
shared identity and values, 18–19
visibility and closeness of, 138
Liberace, 64
Lincoln, Abraham, 21
Listen, We Need to Talk (Harrison and Michelson), 14, 16–17
Lorde, Audre, 156–57
Los Angeles LGBT Center, 126
Louganis, Greg, 64
McGreevey (Governor of New Jersey), 1–2
McKay, Dawn Rosenberg, 40
Major League Baseball, 131
Malje, Maxine, 119
Mar, Raymond, 106
marijuana, attitudes toward usage, 13–14
marriage equality
attitude change, 5
black leaders in favor of, 139–40
public opinion toward, 14–16, 15f
support for, 16–17, 131–33, 138–39 see also same-sex marriage
Maryland, 140
Mason, Lilliana, 42–43, 113–15
Medgars Evers College, 156–57
media sorting, 114
media sources, 31–32
Medicare, 85–86
meditative, 109
Mercury, Freddie, 64
Michelson, Melissa, 14, 16–17, 124–25
Mill, John Stuart, 7
empathy and, 126–29
morality of gay or lesbian relations, attitudes toward, 15–16
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC), 56
“Morning in America” advertisement, Reagan, 109
Morse, Nicole, 108
motivated reasoning, 72
MSNBC, 72–73
NAMBLA, 102–3
name calling, 3, 6–7, 41, 45–46, 151
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 139–40
New York Times (newspaper), 42, 43f, 146
“No on 8” campaign, 46, 124–25
North Carolina, 140
Nyhan, Brendan, 32–33
Obama, Barack, 109, 111, 139–40
Obamacare, Affordable Care Act (ACA) and, 84–86
Ohio, 140
optimal distinctiveness, theory by Brewer, 113
optimism, 109
Oremus, Will, 70
Oxford Dictionary, 90
Pariser, Eli, 69
partisan/partisanship, 28
agreement and division on key issues, 143f, 143–44
concept and identity, 88
identity, 28–33
interpersonal contact, 120–21, 122
polarization in culture, 147
Patrick, Deval, 139–40
PBS, 31–32
personalization, 135
downside to too much, 124–25
inducing personal interest, 153
social division and, 122–25
term, 122–23
persuasion
attitudes and, 118–19
central and peripheral routes to, 27f
communication, 26–28
winning conversations, 144–45
Pew Research Center, 13–14, 16, 43–44, 69
Pew Research Poll, 138
pluralism, 119
Plutchik, Robert, 93–94, 94f, 95–96, 99, 101, 109
Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, 56–57
policy issues, 4
political discussions
dealing with political fear/anxiety, 100–1
engagement, 155
handling anger in, 97–98
handling disgust, 103–5
shared identities and, 135
political knowledge
acquisition of, 32
education and, 30–31
political parties
agreement and division on key issues, 143f
inter-party thermometer ratings, 43f
survey on, 42–44
politics
avoiding religion and, 40
chaos syndrome as breakdown of system, 40–41
organization of hatreds, 40
settings for discussions, 50–53
Post-Broadcast Democracy (Prior), 68
Powell, Colin, 139–40
Prior, Marcus, 68–69
prior attitude effect, 72–73
prison reform, 129
Proposition 8 (California), 46
Protestants, 16
public opinion
LGBT rights, 5
an Medicare, 85–86 see also attitudes
Public Opinion Quarterly (journal), 147
Putnam, Robert, 112–13
race
interpersonal contact, 119–22
shared identity, 130
social identities, 42–43
Rapinoe, Megan, 131
Rauch, Jonathan, 40–41
Ray family (Ricky, Robert and Randy), 64
Reagan, Ronald, 109
receive-accept-sample (RAS) model, attitude change, 25
Reifler, Jason, 32–33
religion, 11
avoiding politics and, 10–11, 40, 155
interpersonal contact, 119, 120–21
shared identity of, 130, 132–34
social identities, 42–43
criminal justice, 144
gun control, 142–43
healthcare coverage, 143–44
ideological sorting, 114
inter-party thermometer ratings, 43f
interpersonal contact of, 120–21
marriage to Democrats, 146
Obamacare and ACA, 84
opinion of Democrats, 42, 113–14
partisan agreement and division on key issues, 142–43, 143f
role of institutions in change, 142
same-sex marriage, 16
surveys of, 42–44
trust in government, 112–13
Ridley, John, 46
Robertson, Pat, 103
Rogers, Robbie, 131
Rogers, Will, 144–45
Ryan, John Barry, 146
St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 132–33
Sam, Michael, 131
sameness, 111–12
“people like us” effect, 129–30 see also groups
same-sex marriage
Obama’s support of, 140 see also marriage equality
Sanders, Bernie, 85
Saturday Night Life (television show), 154
SAVE (LGBT organization), 126
selective exposure, 71–72
sexual orientation
divisions, 36–37
too personal disclosure, 124–25
interpersonal contact, 119, 120–22
shame, 45–46
affect theory, 47–48
responses to questions, 49
understanding transgender, 48–49
concept of, 129–30
credibility and trust, 154
values and, 18–19
shared identity priming, 129–34
in practice, 133–34
priming theory, 129
religious identity, 130, 132–34
social division, 129–34
sports fan identity, 130–32, 133–34
theory of dissonant identity priming (TDIP), 129–30, 130f
types of primes, 129
Sharpton, Al, 139–40
Silver, Nate, 138
Siri, 67–68
Slate (journal), 70
Smith, Will, 139–40
social division
attitudes and persuasion, 118–19
coping with, 118–34
empathy and moral elevation, 126–29
institutional trust and, 112–15
interpersonal contact and, 119–22
personalization and empathy, 122–25
shared identity priming, 129–34
social identity theory, 115–18
categorization, 116–17
comparison, 116–17
group formation, 116–17
group membership, 115–16
identification, 116–17
in-group identity, 117
in-groups and out-groups, 116–17
motivations for, 117–18
psychological distinctiveness, 116–17
social intuitionism, 89–90
social judgment theory, 74–82
attitude change for, 75
discrepancies between anchor points, 75, 81–82
distorting information to fit existing categories, 75, 80–81
evaluating persuasive positions, 75, 76–77
latitude of acceptance, 77, 82–83
latitude of non-commitment, 77
latitude of rejection, 77, 82–83
level of ego-involvement, 75, 79–80, 151–52
persuasion in, 74–75
persuasive information in categories of judgment, 75, 78–80
principles of, 75
realistic expectations, 83
social justice theory, Obamacare and ACA, 84–86
social media, 31–32, 69, 70, 71
Facebook, 9–11, 28–29, 31–32, 69, 70, 72–74
Instagram, 31–32
interpersonal contact, 122
social psychology
personal relevance, 121, 168n106
study of emotion in, 90
social sorting
divisions of Americans, 113–14
geographical, 114
ideological, 114
media, 114
phenomenon, 112–13
trend toward, 118
us vs. them mentality, 135–36
Solomon, Marc, 138–39
sports fan, shared identity of, 130–32, 133–34
sympathetic nervous system, 92
Tajfel, Henri, 115–16
TedTalk, 69
theories of attitude change, 25–28
elaboration likelihood model (ELM), 26, 27f
receive-accept-sample (RAS) model, 25
theory of dissonant identity priming (TDIP), attitude change process model, 129–30, 130f
theory of mind, 106
thermometer rating
inter-party, 43f
transgender, 127
Tomkins, Silvan, 47–48
transgender
analogic perspective–taking, 127
attitudes toward, 46–47
concern about pronoun use, 48–49
open service in military, 149
perspective, 127
term, 126
thermometer rating, 127
Tripmaster Monkey (Kingston), 156
Turner, John, 115–16
Uncivil Agreement (Mason), 113–14
personalization and empathy, 122–23
social sorting and, 135–36
vested interest, 119, 145, 168n109
vulnerability
change and, 24
introducing into conversations, 53
as motivator, 35
Weigel, David, 140
White, Jeanne, 64
White, Ryan, 62–65
white Americans, interpersonal contact, 120
White House Office of Presidential Personnel, 1–2
Wilson, Ricky, 64
Xavier University, 111, 176n177
Zaller, John, 25