ACTUAL VERSUS ASSUMED DIFFERENCES IN CONSTRUAL - NAIVE REALISM IN INTERGROUP PERCEPTION AND CONFLICT

We compared partisan group members' construals and beliefs regarding c ontentious issues, contrasting actual differences in construal with th eir assumptions about those differences. Study I dealt with the aborti on debate and Study 2 with the racially charged Howard Beach incident. Although many significant examples of construal differences were foun d, overestimation of such differences was far more common than underes timation. Misperception about the extremity and consistency of conserv atives was particularly pronounced. Partisans in both studies felt tha t their own views were less driven by political ideology than those of the other side or their own side. In Study 2, nonpartisans similarly overestimated liberal-conservative differences (again, especially for conservatives). This finding suggests the phenomenon is best character ized as a bias not in partisan perceptions but in the way partisans, a nd partisanship, are perceived.