Vidi for Namkje Koudenburg: How conversations contribute to polarization

Why do societal debates sometimes get out of hand? And can small changes in conversational patterns have broader societal effects? With a Vidi grant, social psychologist Namkje Koudenburg will investigate how the dynamics of everyday conversations contribute to societal polarization.

Koudenburg approaches polarization from a bottom-up perspective: not from large ideological divides, but from the microdynamics of conversations between people. “We want to understand how subtle patterns in the way people talk to each other can either reinforce or reduce divisions,” she explains.

To study this, Koudenburg and her team analyze conversations in micro-communities, both in controlled laboratory settings and in real-world contexts — offline and online. They combine experimental and quantitative methods with qualitative conversation analysis and computational modeling to explore how small changes in conversational patterns can have larger societal effects.

The ultimate goal is to better understand how polarization arises and escalates, and based on that knowledge, develop guidelines for de-escalation and healthier democratic debate.