Drawing from the cognitive and social sciences, the ICP has developed tools for modelling and visualizing beliefs, based on the principle that belief systems emerge from interactions between the minds of individuals and the structures of societies. This allows us to capture the centrality of emotion to the coherence of beliefs, offering a means to treat ideas as data that can be accounted for in assessments of human behavior as readily measurable factors.

Applying these methods to some of the most intractable ideological conflicts of our time, we hope to enhance empathy between parties in conflict, shed light on the deep differences in values that underlie ideological polarization, and recognize points of commonality with potential for imagining innovative solutions to persistent political problems.