ABSTRACT
Difference of opinion can be very useful: It can lead to other thoughts and new insights. People often grow apart, especially when they hold conflicting views, when the difference becomes unbridgeable, and when they become rebellious against each other. Many people believe that we live in a polarized society. They think that there are many conflicting opinions, and that there are many opposing groups that cannot seem to come to a mutual understanding. Opposites are part of our lives, just as there are contrary I -positions in ourselves. Opposing views can lead to unfruitful polarization if they are associated with rigid or fixed boundaries between in-groups and out-groups. Depolarizing can be advanced via learning, paraphrasing, and personal contact with other individuals who hold opposing points of view. Depolarizing can also be stimulated by experts we trust. Experts can only stimulate depolarization if they present a contradictory point of view that derives from one’s own ideological group.
