Cohesive societies, where people trust each other and feel a shared sense of identity, tend to be happier and wealthier.
As people across the country step outside of their homes this evening to clap for carers, we can see how the coronavirus crisis has created shared experience without precedent for all of us. We are working with the Mirror, the Daily Express and local newspapers in Britain on a unique project to explore how this shared experience can connect people across divides.
We are helping strangers across the country from different backgrounds and views to connect for an online conversation. We are using behavioural science to help make that contact as fruitful as possible, for example, by prompting participants to identify what they have in common. In the process, we hope to learn more about how we can reduce polarisation and build a more cohesive society as we come out of the pandemic.
