CASE STUDY: INVESTMENT TO INFLUENCE
From Investment
$60,000 Invested to Decode the Emotional Roots of Polarization
Thanks to donor support, IHS invested over $60,000 in four rising scholars whose research explores the emotional roots of polarization. Beyond funding, they gained access to a powerful network of mentors, collaborators, and platforms to turn bold ideas into impact.
Published in PNAS: A Groundbreaking Study on Emotional Hostility Between Partisans
With IHS support, these scholars published a groundbreaking study in PNAS Nexus "Unraveling Polarization"-which explores affective polarization: the emotional hostility and deep mistrust between political partisans. This dynamic erodes compromise, dialogue, and accountability-core pillars of democracy. Their findings offer critical insight into how this distrust grows and how it can be reduced.
From Academic Journal to National Debate
The study quickly gained traction beyond academia, shaping national conversations on political division and trust. IHS helped amplify its impact by connecting the scholars with partners who translated their findings into accessible insights-from op-eds to classroom tools.
Informing Policy With Trusted Data
Insights from the study are already shaping how leaders address polarization. Lelkes's IHS-funded lab provides real-time data on partisan hostility used by policymakers. Dimant's symposium brought together experts to explore solutions, while Bar-On's research is informing civic education to rebuild trust in diverse societies. These efforts lay the intellectual groundwork for better policy— and healthier democracy
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Rebuilding Trust, Strengthening Democracy
Democracy depends on shared facts and trust across differences. Your support of IHS helps build the people, ideas, and institutions restoring those foundations-paving the way for a more resilient, civil society where freedom thrives despite division.
To Influence
From Polarization to Progress: Research Rebuilding Trust in a Divided Democracy
Political division doesn't begin with policy. It begins with emotion.
With donor support, IHS invested over $60,000 in four rising scholars studying the emotional roots of polarization-why mistrust between partisans runs so deep and how it erodes compromise, dialogue, and accountability, the core pillars of democracy.
Their groundbreaking study, published in PNAS Nexus, revealed how emotional hostility— not just ideological disagreement-drives today's divisions. But the impact didn't stop in an academic journal.
IHS helped move the research beyond the academy-amplifying it through national conversations, op-eds, classroom tools, and policy briefings. The findings are now informing civic education, guiding policymakers with real-time data on partisan hostility, and shaping how leaders think about rebuilding trust across differences.
Democracy depends on shared facts and the capacity to disagree without dehumanizing one another. By investing in scholars who uncover the causes of division-and translate insight into action-IHS is laying the intellectual groundwork for a freer, more resilient society.
SCHOLARS
All four authors of this study are IHS grant recipients.
David Rand was granted $26,410 in 2023 for a project aimed at mitigating polarization by fostering a shared factual reality-an essential component of a well-functioning democracy.
Kati Kish Bar-On received a Humane Studies Fellowship to support her research on how intergroup tensions challenge trust, pluralism, and democracy.
Eugen Dimant was awarded funding for a 2024 symposium exploring the roots and consequences of political polarization through political science, economics, and psychology.
Support the Work
Your contribution helps develop scholars, strengthen institutions, and ensure ideas lead to real-world impact.