Attitude Polarization

Lee Ross and Constance Stillinger introduced the concept in a 1991 article, "Barriers to Conflict Resolution," distributed through the Stanford Center on Conflict and Negotiation. Cold War experiments underpinned their argument: Americans rated the same arms-reduction proposal far more favorably when attributed to Reagan than to Gorbachev. Ross and Stillinger concluded the bias was a systematic impediment to peace talks — not merely an isolated quirk.