Your bridging differences score is 0 out of 65, indicating that there is room to grow in your ability to build bridges across differences. Our results suggest that either your social circle tends to consist of people who are similar to you, or you have a low tolerance for disagreement.
However, the ability to bridge differences of identity and opinion is a skill that can be learned over time. Why should you bother? Because there is considerable scientific evidence that people who build bridges across race, class, and politics tend to have better health, better educational outcomes, and even higher income. What’s more, some of our most important goals can only be achieved by negotiating our differences and coming together.
Here are some ways research suggests we can build bridges across our differences.
- Intergroup contact. Research suggests that looking for opportunities to have contact with members of different groups is one of the best ways to bridge divides—but only under the right conditions. In one of the most comprehensive analyses of intergroup contact, researchers looked at 515 studies and found that more contact could reduce prejudice between groups divided along dimensions like race, sexual orientation, disability, and mental illness. However, for these efforts to succeed, certain important conditions needed to be in place, including that the groups needed to share common goals.
- Focus on our shared identities. Another way for us to bridge differences is by focusing on the higher-level identities we share with others that transcend the more specific group identities that tend to sow division. For instance, a 2005 study found that soccer fans were less likely to help an injured jogger if that jogger was wearing a jersey of a rival team. However, in a subsequent experiment, the participants were reminded of their larger, more general identity as soccer fans; after that, they were more likely to help an injured fan of a rival team than they were to help someone who wasn’t wearing a soccer jersey at all.
- Focus on others’ individual characteristics, not their group identity. Research has found that when people see someone from another group, our brains and bodies can respond as if we’re confronting a physical threat. However, when we’re encouraged to see those other people as individuals with their own unique tastes and preferences—for instance, by imagining the person’s favorite vegetable—our brains no longer jump into threat-detection mode.
- Listen to the stories of others. In a pair of studies looking at race-based conflict, researchers paired Mexican immigrants with white Americans and paired Israelis with Palestinians—all of whom were asked to share their perspectives on the difficulties of life in their society, and to take the perspective of the person on the other side. For both pairings, this dialogue improved participants’ attitudes toward the other group, boosting empathy and warm feelings.
- Cultivate mindfulness. Many studies suggest that practicing mindfulness can reduce bias against outgroups and help us to connect with many different kinds of people. Try these research-tested exercises on our Greater Good in Action website to develop your own ability to cultivate moment-to-moment awareness.
You can also take our Bridging Differences course, starting online on October 5, 2021, to learn core research-based principles and strategies for fostering positive relationships, dialogue, and understanding across lines of difference.
There are organizations around the country that are trying to facilitate positive intergroup contact, such as Living Room Conversations and People’s Supper. There are also organizations, like Junior State of America, that are training students to bridge differences. The policy-focused organization Convergence is bringing political opponents together under controlled conditions, helping them to become competent communicators across partisan lines.
You can also download our Bridging Differences Playbook, which synthesizes 14 research-based skills and strategies that support positive dialogue, relationships, and understanding between groups or individuals.
