Grey Areas of Ingroup Identification
– EM
Development of our bi-partisan nature is quite impressive! It shouldn’t come as a surprise, as to how stubborn and ingrained we are to our ingroup identities, since we fortify our beliefs against out group views. Several research publications and articles hint on unequal effect of negative and positive experiences [1,2]. Even if a good and bad experience can be quantified to a similar value, a negative experience generally tends to leave a deeper longer impact.
This however results in two things: 1. Because people identify themselves with a certain group, say for 4 out of 5 reasons, eventually the lines blur and they accept the fifth as their own too; 2. The few people that retain their original trains of thought, and are able to segregate and disregard beliefs of a group they associate themselves with, are inexplicably painted with a broad brush by the out group. 
Allowing Political Empathy to kick in, requires giving our fellow blokes a little benefit of doubt, and making an effort to see the entire grey spectrum in the once black-white regime.
[1]http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/your-money/why-people-remember-negative-events-more-than-positive-ones.html
[2]http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71516.pdf
MATTER THOUGHTS 