Intergroup sensitivity in a divided society: Calls for unity and reconciliatory behavior during the 2020 US presidential election

The United States is highly divided along party lines, and this partisan divide has a tremendous impact on social relationships and even health-related behavior. Although group members frequently reject criticism from individuals outside their own group relative to criticism from within the group (intergroup sensitivity effect), it remains unclear whether this effect holds for calls for unity across party lines. Additionally, the democratic process may itself help to mend intergroup sensitivity. Our high-powered experiment with self-identified U.S. Democratic or Republican voters across three time points during the 2020 U.S. presidential election demonstrates consistent rejection of calls for unity across party lines, which differentially affected consequent reconciliatory behavior. While the ascription of unconstructive motives decreased reconciliatory behavior, heightened threat perceptions increased reconciliatory behavior. Effects were consistent across time and party affiliation, indicating that the democratic election process and the determination of the election outcome were unable to mend intergroup sensitivity across the partisan divide. Calls for unity affected the reported emotional experience of pride but these self-reports had no consistent impact on behavior. We discuss how understanding these psychological mechanics of partisanship helps to prevent democratic backsliding and promote reconciliation.