Skip to 0 minutes and 2 seconds In a world full of conflicts, dynamic events, emotional disputes, and political quarrels where genuine dialogue seems nearly impossible, one word that we often hear is polarization. My name is Agata Komendant-Brodowska, and together with an international group of experts, I’d like to invite you to a short course about this phenomenon. Polarization means deep divides, and this course is about such divisions. What are they? Why do they happen? And can we do anything about it? It might seem that polarization is almost like a force of nature. But this is not the case. Nevertheless, there are mechanisms typical for human nature that make us grow apart quite easily. Throughout the course, we will explore these mechanisms.
Skip to 0 minutes and 46 seconds We will look at “confirmation bias” and “filter bubbles” that influence the way we perceive the world around us. We will also explore intergroup relations and how dialogues can be more or less polarizing. It will all help you recognize polarization and key mechanisms that make us grow apart. You’ll try out, how to escape some of these mechanisms and explore ways of sewing divided groups back together. This way you will be able to tackle polarization better because it’s not like we can’t do anything about it. We can. So, let’s go. [Music]
