Friends on the Other Side: Receptiveness to Opposing Views Predicts Formation of Politically Heterogeneous Relationships

Abstract

Growing evidence points to the corrosive influence of partisanship on society. We examine the relationship between “receptiveness to opposing views” (i.e., an individual difference in the willingness to engage with information from opposing perspectives) and the propensity to form positive and close collaborative relationships with ideologically opposed others. Across three studies varying in sampling and methodological approaches—a retrospective network study, a time-lagged field study, and an experiment—we find that individual and mutual receptiveness mitigate the negative influence of ideological opposition on relationship formation and willingness to collaborate. We find evidence that receptiveness is distinctively influential as compared to related personality characteristics (e.g., extraversion, self-monitoring, agreeableness, openness, and intellectual humility). These findings contribute to our understanding of how individual differences shape social network formation and collaboration across ideological divides.

Keywords

receptiveness social networks political ideology collaboration homophily

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