Frequently Asked Questions

Braver Angels is a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizens’ movement advancing courageous citizenship—renewing civic culture and rebuilding trust across political differences. We inspire and equip Americans to act, not react: building across division locally and nationally through skill-building, convening, and collaborative action. Through training, dialogue workshops, 1:1 conversations, community debates, town halls, and citizen‑led solutions, we enable hope and confidence in engagement, build human connection, and strengthen the social fabric.

To learn more about our workshops, local chapters, and other programs, visit braverangels.org.

The Depolarization Dōjō is a practice tool that helps you develop better dialogue skills for difficult political conversations. You can chat with AI personas representing different political perspectives and receive real-time coaching on your communication approach.

The term "dōjō" comes from Japanese martial arts, where it refers to a training hall—a safe space for practice and learning. Just as martial artists practice techniques in a dōjō before using them in real situations, the Depolarization Dōjō provides a safe, controlled environment where you can practice difficult political conversations and develop your dialogue skills without the high stakes of real-world interactions. It's a place to learn, make mistakes, and improve before engaging in actual political discussions.

We use the word “dōjō” with respect for its origins. Here it serves as a clear metaphor for a disciplined practice space—not a claim to Japanese martial arts traditions or culture. If you have feedback on our use of the term, please share it via the in‑app Suggestions & Feedback button.

Yes. The Depolarization Dōjō is currently in an early pilot phase. We're actively collecting feedback from our members to improve the experience, fix issues, and add new features. Your input is valuable to us, and we encourage you to share your thoughts, suggestions, and any problems you encounter through the feedback dialog available in the app. Your participation helps us build a better tool for practicing depolarizing dialogue.

Absolutely! The Dōjō is designed as a practice space where you can safely experiment with different communication approaches before having difficult conversations in real life. The feedback you receive can help you develop skills that will be useful in actual political discussions with friends, family, or colleagues.

The Depolarization Dōjō was created through a collaboration within Braver Angels: Charles Naumer, sense‑making & technology scholar, CEO of the CiviCore Foundation, and Denver Alliance Co-Chair, is the principal developer; Bill Doherty, Braver Angels Co‑Founder, family therapist and professor, is the principal subject matter expert; and Andrew Stillman (Braver Angels CTO), technology leader and former educator, serves as the principal product manager and co‑developer.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to the many Braver Angels volunteer moderators and content developers whose insights shaped the design and experience.

Finally, a wink to the amazing powers of AI‑assisted code editors—like a tireless pair‑programmer who works at 3 a.m., drinks only electrons, and still insists on adding that one extra semicolon.

The Dōjō is currently in an early pilot phase, and we plan to continue improving it based on user feedback.

Each persona runs on top of a curated “system prompt” that spells out their political beliefs, background, communication style, and conversation do’s and don’ts. Think of it as a character bible: the prompt reminds the AI which values to highlight, how warm or skeptical to sound, and when to push back or extend grace. When you pick a persona, the Dōjō loads its prompt so that your conversation partner consistently reflects that viewpoint.

The Pew Research Center’s Political Typology groups Americans into research‑based profiles that reflect combinations of values, beliefs, and political engagement—not just party labels. We draw inspiration from this typology when designing personas so that perspectives feel grounded in recognizable, real‑world patterns rather than stereotypes.

Credit: Pew Research Center – Political Typology. Pew does not endorse this app; any adaptations or mappings are our own.

We reference this typology in a non‑commercial, educational context, with attribution and without implying endorsement by Pew Research Center. Any monetization related to the Dōjō is incidental to Braver Angels membership and enables us to provide a scalable educational resource to members.

Yes. Some personas use dialects, colloquialisms, or regional turns of phrase to increase realism and reflect the person’s background. These choices are tied to characteristics such as region, age, occupation, and cultural context—not to stereotype or demean any group.

Our aim is to help you practice conversations that feel authentic across diverse American voices. If a dialect or style ever feels off or distracting, please share feedback via the in‑app Suggestions & Feedback button.

Yes. To use the Depolarization Dōjō, you must be an active Braver Angels member and log in using your Braver Angels Member account. This ensures you have access to all features and can track your progress over time. If you're not yet a member, you can join Braver Angels as a member. Membership starts at only $12 per year.

On the persona selection screen, you'll see various political personas representing different perspectives and typologies. Each persona has different beliefs, backgrounds, and communication styles. Choose one that represents a viewpoint you'd like to practice having a conversation with.

As you chat with a persona, an AI coach analyzes each of your messages and provides feedback on your dialogue skills. The coach evaluates each response on a 1-10 scale, assessing how well you're using techniques like listening, asking questions, acknowledging different perspectives, and avoiding polarizing language. You'll receive tips and assessments after each message to help you improve your approach.

The coach has its own detailed system prompt focused on Braver Angels’ LAPP skills, polarization scoring, tone checks, and actionable coaching. It tells the coach to:

• Track how well you listen, acknowledge, pivot, and offer perspective, referencing Braver Angels best practices.
• Highlight moments of polarizing language and explain why a score was assigned, including what to try next time.
• Give concrete suggestions—sample questions, tone resets, or empathy statements—instead of generic encouragement.

Because this prompt is separate from the persona instructions, the coach functions as an independent referee that stays focused on skill-building while the persona remains fully in character.

The coach evaluates your dialogue based on Braver Angels' established depolarization skills framework, known as LAPP:

• Listen: Listen to understand, turning off the "arguing back" mindset. Listen for the other person's values, emotions, and anything you can agree with.
• Acknowledge: Acknowledge what you are hearing and any points of agreement. Agree when you can, and repeat or paraphrase what the person said.
• Pivot: Signal a shift in the conversation to introduce a different perspective, such as asking "Can I offer another thought about this?"
• Perspective: Offer a depolarizing viewpoint that may involve considering the ideas of the "other" side instead of relying on stereotypes.

The coach also evaluates your use of tone-setting skills, such as asking permission to discuss political views, acknowledging your own political stance, and ensuring your tone would be respected by a rational member of the opposing group.

To learn more about these skills and practice them in depth, consider taking a Braver Angels eCourse or attending a Braver Angels workshop. The Families & Politics eCourse provides an excellent introduction to the LAPP skills framework. You can also practice these skills in a real 1:1 conversation with another Braver Angels member.

Polarization scores use a 1–10 scale to reflect how a message is likely to land in a cross‑partisan conversation—ranging from more polarizing (1) to more depolarizing (10). The coach assesses phrasing, tone, openness, acknowledgment of the other side, and whether the message invites dialogue or forecloses it.

• 1–3 (more polarizing): Adversarial framing, sweeping claims, moral condemnation, or stereotyping the “other side.” Often asserts motives or uses loaded labels.
• 4–6 (mixed/neutral): Personal viewpoint with some heat or assumptions alongside elements of curiosity or acknowledgment. Can be improved with listening and question‑asking.
• 7–10 (more depolarizing): Curious, specific, and respectful tone; shows you’ve listened and acknowledged; invites perspective; uses careful language and proportionate claims.

Examples:

• Score 2–3: “People like you don’t care about the facts—you just want to ruin the country.” (labels, motives, no invitation)
• Score 5–6: “I think this policy is a disaster, but maybe I’m missing something. Why do you see it differently?” (heat plus a question and some openness)
• Score 8–9: “I hear your concern about fairness. I see it a bit differently because of X and Y. Would you be open to comparing how each approach might address your concern?” (acknowledgment, perspective, invitation)

Yes. We use Google's Gemini AI services under an enterprise agreement that provides strong privacy protections. Your conversations are not used to train AI models, and your data benefits from enterprise-grade security and privacy protections. For more details, see our Privacy Policy.

Visit the Profile → Chat Log Privacy section to manage two controls:

• Privacy mode toggle: Hide the contents of all future conversations from our logs while still recording anonymous usage statistics (dates, persona counts, activity totals).
• Scrub chat history: Permanently remove the contents of every past conversation—including member messages and AI replies—while leaving coach notes and anonymized statistics intact for usage reporting.

Both controls take effect immediately after you confirm the change, giving you direct control over how much conversation data we store.

The Dōjō can use a few optional fields from your Braver Angels member profile—like your first name, political leaning color, and reason for joining—to personalize greetings and guidance. You’ll find these in Profile → Member Profile and Privacy.

You control sharing per field using the eye icon. When the icon is crossed out, that value is “Not shared with AI.” When the icon is visible, that value may be used to personalize your experience. You can change these settings at any time; updates take effect immediately.

Short answer: it isn’t. The app was built entirely in‑house with volunteer effort and without additional staffing, and is currently in need of grant funding and member support to be continuously improved, scaled and sustained.

More broadly, membership dues play a crucial role in helping Braver Angels sustain core operations and platforms like the Dōjō, alongside philanthropic grants and individual gifts.

Prospective donors and funders who are interested in providing support can contact us at development@braverangels.org.

Due to resourcing constraints, the Dōjō does not offer on‑demand support. If you run into an issue or have suggestions, please use the in‑app Suggestions & Feedback button (lower‑right of the screen) to report bugs, request enhancements, or share ideas.

We actively monitor feedback and prioritize fixes and improvements based on member input. Thank you for helping us improve the experience.

If you need support with renewing or accessing your Braver Angels member account, please reach out to membership@braverangels.org.

Yes. We welcome media inquiries that help spread the word about Braver Angels and the Dōjō. Journalists, podcasters, and partners can reach our communications team at press@braverangels.org.