Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners
Past research finds that a majority of gun and non-gun owners support key gun safety policies, yet gun owners tend to underestimate other gun owners’ support for these policies. We predicted that these misperceptions of support might lead gun owners to view non-gun owners as being less similar to th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9176832/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1811251384936300544 |
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| author | Mark W. Susmann Graham N. Dixon Brad J. Bushman R. Kelly Garrett |
| author_facet | Mark W. Susmann Graham N. Dixon Brad J. Bushman R. Kelly Garrett |
| author_sort | Mark W. Susmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Past research finds that a majority of gun and non-gun owners support key gun safety policies, yet gun owners tend to underestimate other gun owners’ support for these policies. We predicted that these misperceptions of support might lead gun owners to view non-gun owners as being less similar to themselves, which might undermine intergroup cooperation to promote gun safety policies and fuel intergroup animosity. Importantly, we also predicted that correcting these misperceptions would be an effective way to reduce intergroup division and enhance intergroup cooperation. We tested these predictions across two studies in which participants were randomly assigned to read information designed to correct misperceptions of gun owner support or to read other, control information. Across both studies, we find that correcting gun owners’ misperceptions of gun owner support for gun safety policies leads to greater perceptions of identity overlap between gun and non-gun owners, greater willingness to work with each other to promote gun safety policies, and less negative affect towards each other. This suggests that correcting gun owner misperceptions of gun owners’ support for gun safety policies might be an effective intervention to facilitate intergroup cooperation to promote these policies. Therefore, efforts to promote gun safety policies might benefit from educating gun owners about the degree of support for these policies that already exists among gun owners. Doing so might present a simple and cost-effective way to mobilize gun owners in support of these policies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:19:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-01a90e1c3fdd47c9b817fdcb91acf0fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T16:19:41Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-01a90e1c3fdd47c9b817fdcb91acf0fc2022-12-22T03:25:36ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01176Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun ownersMark W. SusmannGraham N. DixonBrad J. BushmanR. Kelly GarrettPast research finds that a majority of gun and non-gun owners support key gun safety policies, yet gun owners tend to underestimate other gun owners’ support for these policies. We predicted that these misperceptions of support might lead gun owners to view non-gun owners as being less similar to themselves, which might undermine intergroup cooperation to promote gun safety policies and fuel intergroup animosity. Importantly, we also predicted that correcting these misperceptions would be an effective way to reduce intergroup division and enhance intergroup cooperation. We tested these predictions across two studies in which participants were randomly assigned to read information designed to correct misperceptions of gun owner support or to read other, control information. Across both studies, we find that correcting gun owners’ misperceptions of gun owner support for gun safety policies leads to greater perceptions of identity overlap between gun and non-gun owners, greater willingness to work with each other to promote gun safety policies, and less negative affect towards each other. This suggests that correcting gun owner misperceptions of gun owners’ support for gun safety policies might be an effective intervention to facilitate intergroup cooperation to promote these policies. Therefore, efforts to promote gun safety policies might benefit from educating gun owners about the degree of support for these policies that already exists among gun owners. Doing so might present a simple and cost-effective way to mobilize gun owners in support of these policies.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9176832/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Mark W. Susmann Graham N. Dixon Brad J. Bushman R. Kelly Garrett Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners PLoS ONE |
| title | Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners |
| title_full | Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners |
| title_fullStr | Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners |
| title_full_unstemmed | Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners |
| title_short | Correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non-gun owners |
| title_sort | correcting misperceptions of gun policy support can foster intergroup cooperation between gun owners and non gun owners |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9176832/?tool=EBI |
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