A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

That’s not my truth!: epistemic relativism and political polarization in the United States




AuthorsAvendaño, Diego; Holford, Dawn; Karlsson, Linda; Lewandowsky, Stephan; Fasce, Angelo

Publisher Springer Nature

Publication year2026

Journal: Current Psychology

Article number142

Volume45

ISSN1046-1310

eISSN1936-4733

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08626-w

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingNo Open Access

Publication channel's open availability Partially Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08626-w


Abstract

Political polarization affects the social trust and norms upon which democracy is built. In a pre-registered study using a representative sample of the United States (N = 1000), we investigated how two conceptualizations of truth interact with political polarization over democratic principles on both sides of the political spectrum. Specifically, we examined how two forms of epistemic relativism—epistemic subjectivism and sociopolitical constructivism—relate to partisan polarization between Republicans and Democrats, democratic values, and policy attitudes. Beliefs reflecting higher epistemic relativism were associated with lower support for democracy and trust in electoral results. Moreover, we identified two subgroups on each side of the political divide (17% of the total sample for Democrats and 16.5% for Republicans) who held a highly politicized conception of truth and a greater willingness to support violations of democratic norms and political violence against their respective out-parties. These subgroups of Democrats and Republicans exhibited many similarities with each other while differing from their own co-partisans. Results are discussed in relation to the upsurge of illiberal tendencies across the political spectrum.


Funding information in the publication
Dawn Holford, Linda Karlsson, Stephan Lewandowsky, and Angelo Fasce received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 964728 (JITSUVAX). Stephan Lewandowsky also acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant No 101020961, PRODEMINFO). Linda Karlsson also acknowledges funding from Turku Institute for Advanced Studies (TIAS).


Last updated on 21/01/2026 10:40:37 AM