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The current study will investigate the transmission of polarized information, epistemic vigilance, and openness to belief revision among adolescents in the historically divided society of Northern Ireland. Exposure to polarized messages is associated with negative outcomes for both individuals and society, including perpetuating intergroup conflict. Using a diffusion chain method (Mesoudi & Whiten, 2008), the current project aims to examine how information consumption and transmission differs within and across groups (of former conflict rivals), and to understand how these processes relate to individual differences and environmental context (at an interpersonal, structural, and cultural level).

In some circumstances, behaving prosocially may require individuals to engage in risk taking, e.g. lending money to a friend or engaging in civil protest. The current study examines how the interaction between prosocial and risk taking traits predicts a particular form of prosociality: social inclusion of lower status or marginalized group members. Social inclusion in this context may plausibly hold a number of risks, e.g. reputational damage with higher status group members, or perhaps even physical risks, where conflict between groups is present. A conflict-related past is incorporated in the current study.