During the Spring 2024 semester, members of the Brauer Group Lab undertook a project to understand how to have more inclusive and productive conversations across social groups.

This project was inspired by the 2023-2024 UW-Madison Go Big Read, How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion by David McRaney. The project culminated in the resources listed below.

These resources are designed to help foster more positive cross-group discussions.

Deep Canvassing Handout by Ben Douglas, Miranda Gibbons, and Reggie Wu

Smart Politics Handout by Elijah Fisher, Siena Keys, and Surya Vir

Street Epistemology Handout by Cadyn Yandell

Relevant Scientific Articles:

Broockman, D., & Kalla, J. (2016). Durably reducing transphobia: A field experiment on door-to-door canvassing. Science, 352(6282), 220-224.

Schmid, P., & Betsch, C. (2019). Effective strategies for rebutting science denialism in public discussions. Nature Human Behaviour, 3, 931-939. 

Suggested Resources:

Deep Canvassing Overview: www.newconvo.org/what-is-deep-canvassing

Megan Phelps-Roper’s TED Talk:

Dr. Karin Tamerius’ Smart Politics: