UWEC CERCA 2025

In this project, students in the Individual Differences and Evolutionary Psychology (IDEP) lab are investigating (Study 1, in progress) the extent to which college students hold various hopes and fears when they imagine having a conversation about controversial topics with a fellow college student who holds differing political views, and (Study 2, in preparation) the extent to which those various hopeful and feared outcomes manifest in such conversations. The students on this project collected nominations from 80 students last fall to identify common hopes and fears that students have, and those hopes and fears serve as the stimulus materials in Study 1 and Study 2. Sample hopes include learning new perspectives, gaining practice articulating one's views, making a new friend, etc.; sample fears include looking stupid, getting into an argument, talking with someone who is hateful, etc. The students will be ready by April 25 to describe the method and findings of both of their studies, as well as the implications of their data for encouraging civil dialogue on campus.