IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-25-00133.html

Moderating political polarization through affect labeling: An experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro Hemsley

    (UFRJ)

  • Lynda Pavão

    (State University of Rio de Janeiro)

Abstract

Affect labelling, the process of putting feelings into words, has been shown to have a calming effect on the brain. This study examines the impact of affect labelling on political polarization over Covid-mitigation measures, an emotionally-charged topic that led to large differences of opinion. We conducted an online experiment in which participants in a treatment group, randomly assigned, underwent a questionnaire to label their feelings before reporting their opinions. We found that affect labeling reduced polarization for young individuals, up to the age of 29, a demographic characterized by intense emotional responses due to increased activity in the amygdala, the region of the brain whose activity is reduced by affect labeling.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro Hemsley & Lynda Pavão, 2025. "Moderating political polarization through affect labeling: An experiment," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 45(1), pages 321-331.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-25-00133
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2025/Volume45/EB-25-V45-I1-P30.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Barrera, Oscar & Guriev, Sergei & Henry, Emeric & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2020. "Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    2. Roland G FryerJr & Philipp Harms & Matthew O Jackson, 2019. "Updating Beliefs when Evidence is Open to Interpretation: Implications for Bias and Polarization," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1470-1501.
    3. Allcott, Hunt & Boxell, Levi & Conway, Jacob & Gentzkow, Matthew & Thaler, Michael & Yang, David, 2020. "Polarization and public health: Partisan differences in social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    4. Barrera, Oscar & Guriev, Sergei & Henry, Emeric & Zhuravskaya, Ekaterina, 2020. "Facts, alternative facts, and fact checking in times of post-truth politics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    5. David Autor & David Dorn & Gordon Hanson & Kaveh Majlesi, 2020. "Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(10), pages 3139-3183, October.
    6. Matthew D. Lieberman, 2019. "Affect labeling in the age of social media," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 20-21, January.
    7. Azzimonti, Marina & Fernandes, Marcos, 2023. "Social media networks, fake news, and polarization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sergei Guriev & Elias Papaioannou, 2022. "The Political Economy of Populism," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 753-832, September.
    2. Robert Gold, 2022. "From a better understanding of the drivers of populism to a new political agenda," Working Papers 4, Forum New Economy.
    3. Clara, Jean & Jean-Flavien, Bussotti & Grazia, Cecere & Nessrine, Omrani & Paolo, Papotti, 2026. "Digital divide and artificial intelligence for health," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Ali, Ayesha & Qazi, Ihsan Ayyub, 2023. "Countering misinformation on social media through educational interventions: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    5. Berger, Lara Marie & Kerkhof, Anna & Mindl, Felix & Münster, Johannes, 2025. "Debunking “fake news” on social media: Immediate and short-term effects of fact-checking and media literacy interventions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    6. Bauernschuster, Stefan & Blum, Matthias & Hornung, Erik & Koenig, Christoph, 2025. "The political effects of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Weimar Germany," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Dylong, Patrick & Setzepfand, Paul & Uebelmesser, Silke, 2024. "Priming attitudes toward immigrants: Implications for migration research and survey design," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    8. Gordon B. Dahl & Runjing Lu & William Mullins, 2022. "Partisan Fertility and Presidential Elections," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 473-490, December.
    9. Hassan Afrouzi & Carolina Arteaga & Emily Weisburst, 2022. "Can Leaders Persuade? Examining Movement in Immigration Beliefs," CESifo Working Paper Series 9593, CESifo.
    10. Joonseok Yang & Tom Moerenhout, 2024. "Information campaigns and public perceptions of structural reforms: Evidence from a survey experiment on gasoline subsidy reform in Nigeria," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(2), pages 509-529, March.
    11. Cristina Cattaneo & Daniela Grieco & Nicola Lacetera & Mario Macis, 2026. "Trading Off Openness: Economic Information and Immigration Policy Preferences," NBER Working Papers 35509, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lance Y. Hunter, 2025. "The Polarization Paradox: How State Wealth and Online Media Consumption Affect Polarization," World Affairs, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 188(3), July.
    13. Sekou Keita & Thomas Renault & Jérôme Valette, 2024. "The Usual Suspects: Offender Origin, Media Reporting and Natives’ Attitudes Towards Immigration," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(657), pages 322-362.
    14. Brandts, Jordi & Busom, Isabel & Lopez-Mayan, Cristina, 2025. "Do giving voice and social information help in revising a misconception about rent–control?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    15. Kuang, Pei & Luca, Davide & Wei, Zhiwu, 2026. "Ballots, budgets and bricks: Brexit and the polarisation of individual economic behaviours," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 138681, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Arrora. Falak, 2025. "Screening Information," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1586, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    17. Jiang, Shuguang & Wang, Siyu & Wei, Qian, 2026. "Thinking against the wind: Narratives, information, and reasoning ability," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    18. Sang Hoo Bae & Leonid Krasnozhon, 2025. "Interstate conflicts with multiple fronts," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 205(3), pages 337-361, December.
    19. Carolina Arteaga & Victoria Barone, 2023. "Democracy and The Opioid Epidemic," Working Papers tecipa-765, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    20. Paolo Pin & Roberto Rozzi & Alessandro Stringhi, 2026. "Museums as Policy Tools: The Behavioral Impact of Cultural Experiences," Papers 2606.07109, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-25-00133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.