In the late 1960s, a group of young Frenchmen sat down to discuss current affairs. Initial mild support for General de Gaulle became much stronger, while opinions about American foreign aid turned from a little bit sceptical to downright hostile. The conversation was one of the earliest studies of something called “group polarisation”, the tendency to become firmer and more extreme when discussing subjects with those of like mind. Each shows the same tendency for group opinions to polarise. And in his 2009 book Going to Extremes Cass Sunstein…

Source: The Times January 15, 2019 23:59 UTC