Skip to main content
Log in

How to depolarize your students

  • Comment
  • Published:

From Nature Human Behaviour

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Political polarization leads to distrust. In universities, this can lead to conflict or silence in classes and hinder learning and engagement. Faculty members and leaders can promote depolarization by encouraging constructive dialogue in and out of class, cultivating viewpoint diversity within boundaries and expanding civic spaces.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

References

  1. Vivian, B. Campus Misinformation (Oxford Univ. Press, 2022).

  2. Mason, L. Uncivil Agreement (Univ. Chicago Press, 2018).

  3. Hopkins, D. The Increasingly United States (Univ. Chicago Press, 2018).

  4. Nguyen, C. T. Episteme 17, 141–161 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Druckman, J. N., Klar, S., Krupnikov, Y., Levendusky, M. & Ryan, J. B. Nat. Hum. Behav. 5, 28–38 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Daniels, R. What Universities Owe Democracy (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2021).

  7. Strother, L., Piston, S., Golberstein, E., Gollust, S. E. & Eisenberg, D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2015514117 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Levendusky, M. Our Common Bonds (Univ. Chicago Press, 2023).

  9. Hess, D. Controversy in the Classroom (Routledge, 2009).

  10. Laden, A. S. Reasoning: A Social Picture (Oxford Univ. Press, 2014).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sigal Ben-Porath.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author serves as the faculty director of the SNF Paideia programme at the University of Pennsylvania, for which she receives financial compensation.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ben-Porath, S. How to depolarize your students. Nat Hum Behav 8, 186–189 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01801-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01801-8

  • Springer Nature Limited

Navigation