The psychology behind our political divide, with Keith Payne, PhD

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If you listen to the news or to political pundits, you've probably heard that Americans are more politically polarized than ever before.

We've sorted ourselves into opposing red and blue camps, and we can't seem to see eye to eye on anything.

With Election Day around the corner, many of us are feeling the strain of those divisions.

When you're getting into an angry debate with a childhood friend on Facebook or biting your tongue in a family dinner to keep the peace, the political divide can feel unbridgeable.

Amid that strain, psychologist research can offer some insight.

It can help us understand where our political identities come from, why we think about politics the way we do, and why it's so hard to talk across the political divide.

So what is the psychology that underlies how most people think about politics?

How did American history and our own places in it lead each of us where we are?

Is the political divide today really worse than it was years ago?

Does social media cause political polarization or does it just reflect it?

And what can we do to bridge the divide and maintain connections with those we disagree with?

Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association

that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.