Receptiveness to Opposing Views: Conceptualization and Integrative Review

Abstract

The present article reviews a growing body of research on receptiveness to opposing views—the willingness to access, consider, and evaluate contradictory opinions in a relatively impartial manner. First, we describe the construct of receptiveness and consider how it can be measured and studied at the individual level. Next, we extend our theorizing to the interpersonal level, arguing that receptiveness in the course of any given interaction is mutually constituted by the dispositional tendencies and observable behaviors of the parties involved. We advance the argument that receptiveness should be conceptualized and studied as an interpersonal construct that emerges dynamically over the course of an interaction and is powerfully influenced by counterpart behavior. This interpersonal conceptualization of receptiveness has important implications for intervention design and raises a suite of novel research questions.

Attitudes in an interpersonal context: Psychological safety as a route to attitude change

“…One key barrier to examining interpersonal dynamics is the methodological tools to do so. To adequately examine these dynamics, a host of variables should be considered, including overt behavior (e.g., question asking), momentary attitudes, and psychological experiences such as perceptions related to safety, threat, and receptivity (for a discussion of some possibilities with respect to receptivity, refer to Minson and Chen, 2021 ). One major challenge to collecting real-time data, and subjective perceptions in particular, is conducting such studies without disrupting the flow of the conversation.…”

“…Studies have also examined interpersonal behaviors that communicators engage in that can affect the openness and receptivity of their audience ( Minson and Chen, 2021 ). For example, communicators who express interest in learning about their recipients’ viewpoints elicited more open-minded (or less defensive) responses from their audiences ( Chen et al, 2010 ).…”

Using self-affirmation to increase intellectual humility in debate

“…In general, self-affirmation makes people relatively more open to information and ideas that would otherwise prove threatening to their identity [ 52 ], and online dialogue is an important context in which to examine this process. Such a study would further address calls for interventions to engage more with or be more receptive towards opposing views [ 61 ]. Another intriguing possibility is to include value affirmation at public engagement activities, perhaps using an online measure of values like one we used at the Royal Society 2022 Science Exhibition ( ).…”

Beyond persuasion: Improving conversational quality around high-stakes interpersonal disagreements

“…Here, we examine the effect of training participants in "conversational receptiveness"-the use of language to communicate one's engagement with opposing perspectives (Minson & Chen, 2022;Yeomans, Kantor, & Tingley, 2019;Yeomans, Minson, Collins, Chen, & Gino, 2020)-on communication between vaccine-supportive and vaccine-hesitant individuals. We seek to increase the frequency of civil conversations about vaccination with disagreeing others and promote desire for future dialogue.…”