Project APVV-23-0127
Duration of the project: 06/2024 – 06/2028
Principal investigator:
Mgr. Matúš Grežo, PhD.
List of co-investigators:
Mgr. Magdalena Adamus, PhD.
Mgr. Viktória Sunyík, PhD.
Mgr. Branislav Uhrecký, PhD.
Mgr. Peter Teličák, PhD.
Mgr. Alexander Loziak, PhD.
Mgr. Ivan Brezina, PhD.
Annotation:
Recent developments in democratic societies show that social and political polarization is far more widespread and damaging than expected at the turn of the millennium. Unfortunately, Slovakia seems to be no exception when it comes to polarization. Controversies over various social issues such as abortion rights, the threat of “gender ideology” or migration often spill over into political discourse, creating fertile ground for conflict between different opinion-based groups. In order to gain first comprehensive insights into this aversive social phenomenon in the Slovak context, the POL(AR)ICY project aims to investigate the degree of polarization in the Slovak population, taking into account two different conceptualizations — opinion polarization and affective polarization. Focusing on a variety of socio-political issues, the project first maps the degree of opinion polarization in the Slovak population and determines how this polarization occurs depending on various socio-demographic and structural factors. The project then shifts the focus to the observation of psychological mechanisms that help explain affective polarization on these issues. By integrating knowledge and theories from political, moral and group psychology, the project aims to identify the most vulnerable social groups that experience an increased sense of threat and show the strongest (and socially aversive) forms of value protection reactions when confronted with the violation of their moral values. By using a correlational and experimental approach, the project also aims to provide interested stakeholders with evidence-based recommendations for designing their communication strategies and interventions to reduce social polarization and its potential negative consequences.
Key words: opinion polarization, affective polarization, political orientation, socio-psychological factors associated with threat management, moral intuitions, protection of moral values, intergroup conflict