Joseph Mernyk

Contemporary democracies face declining trust and rising division, making it difficult to form coalitions that can address societal-scale challenges, such as economic inequality or climate change. I study the social psychological barriers that limit cooperation across political, racial, and class divides and test scalable methods to improve coordination between these groups despite their different backgrounds, goals, and preferences. 

My research focuses on three distinct pathways for understanding and overcoming these barriers. First, I am developing and evaluating nonpartisan AI voter guides that can reduce voters’ knowledge gaps and increase participation in elections. Second, I am mapping the belief systems underlying divisive topics to identify and change the beliefs and attitudes most responsible for limiting cooperation. Finally, I am testing methods for improving coordination between activists and social movement organizations with similar goals but different approaches. I plan to maximize the impact of this research by collaborating with practitioners to test these ideas in the field and ensure that my findings are accessible to those who can put them into practice.