Braver Angels is a grassroots organization devoted to reducing political polarization and strengthening democracy through guided discourse among people of differing perspectives. There are relatively recent research articles evaluating their method. The first, by Blackburn and Chatham-Carpenter (2022), provides a descriptive analysis of the process used in Braver Angels guided discussions. Blackburn and Chatham-Carpenter analyzed and then described the workshop methodology as focused on “creating communities of dialogue through active listening, limiting assumptions about others, and sharing one’s own perspective and invoking perspectives of others.” Although this first article describes the process used in the Braver Angels model, it does not evaluate the effectiveness of their model. However, the second article, by Baron et al. (2021), does.
Baron et al. evaluated the Braver Angels dialogue model by randomly assigning students at four different colleges and universities to either participate in a Braver Angels workshop or serve as a control group. The researchers had both the control and experimental groups complete identical surveys before the workshop, one to two weeks after the workshop, and roughly six months after the workshop. The survey measures implicit and explicit prejudice/polarization, as well as behavioral support for reducing prejudice/polarization. The behavioral measure consisted of each participant receiving $10 for participating in the study and then being offered the opportunity to donate a portion of this money toward Bridge the Divide, an NGO focused on reducing youth political polarization. Comparison of the different scores (pre-workshop to post) between workshop participants and the control group showed significant differences in all three measures (explicit, implicit, and behavioral). Importantly, the workshops reduced prejudice/polarization for both Republicans and Democrats.
For campuses looking to start a Braver Angels dialogue program, training is available online at no cost to become a volunteer workshop facilitator at braverangels.org
Citations
Oliver-Blackburn, B.M., and A. Chatham-Carpenter. “‘But I Don’t Know If I Want to Talk to You’: Strategies to Foster Conversational Receptiveness Across the United States’ Political Divide.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 51 no. 1 (2022): 55-71 https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2022.2093122
Baron, H., R. Blair, D. Choi, L. Gamboa, J. Gottlieb,A. L. Robinson,S. Rosenzweig, M. Turnbull, and E. A. West. “Couples Therapy for a Divided America: Assessing the Effects of Reciprocal Group Reflection on Partisan Polarization.” May 10, 2021. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/3x7z8