Experience vs. Fact (Class Notes 30/1/20)

Kubin, E., Puryear, C., Schein, C., & Gray, K. (2021). Personal experiences bridge moral and political divides better than facts. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(6). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008389118

(APA 7: I was unable to add spaces/ the indentation.)

THESIS: The respect-inducing potential of morl opinions is more than that of facts. Respect from political opponents is most prominent for issue-related and harm-based personal experience-involving arguments.

How the article distinguishes between statements based on personal experience and based on facts?

1. Personal experience is thought to be less convincing than facts by people who were initially surveyed.
2. However, after doing a type of sentiment analysis of YouTube comments, videos involving personal experience got more positive comments.
3. This led to the conslusion that personal experiences can be more convincing.
4. More research found harm-based relevant experiences to be most effective.

The authors came up with a model that facts can appeal to rationality and when combined with personal experience, command more respect than without experience.