Can Communication Increase Empathy and Perspective Taking In Online Discussions? A Pre-Registered Systematic Review.

Many conflicts originate and spread online, such as heated discussions on the election outcomes, police behaviour or climate change policies. These online discussions can spill over into incivility, hate speech, and violent or criminal action both online and offline, and therefore require effective interventions. There is much research on interventions to resolve “real life” conflict, which often focus on increasing conflict parties’ empathy, or ability to see the other’s perspective (e.g. Klimecki, 2019). However, little is known on whether these interventions are also effective in online settings – or if a novel approach of conflict resolution is needed. Given the increasing urgency to promote constructive discussions online, we have conducted a systematic review of the emerging and dispersed research on interventions in online and offline discussions to increase understanding if, and how, such interventions can improve empathy and perspective taking online.