Persuasion in Parallel

Alexander Coppock is assistant professor of political science at Yale University.

• Chapter 1 Persuasion in Polarized AmericaChapter 2 Reinterpreting a Social Psychology ClassicChapter 3 Definitions and DistinctionsChapter 4 Research DesignChapter 5 Persuasion Experiments: Originals, Replications, and ReanalysesChapter 6 Persistence and DecayChapter 7 Models of Information ProcessingChapter 8 Persuasion Is PossibleAcknowledgmentsAppendixNotesReferencesIndex

"Motivated reasoning theory argues that when people encounter information with which they disagree, they will backlash against it and become more extreme in their prior positions . . . Coppock posits that people update their positions in ways that align with the direction of the information to which they are exposed . . . Whereas motivated reasoning theory has led to despair over the polarization of American politics, Coppock's data gives hope that information can bridge the political divide. Recommended."