It's inevitable; families are going to debate around the dinner table during the holidays, especially when it comes to politics. But, your holiday meal doesn't need to be ruined just by disagreeing viewpoints.

"People always feel disarmed when their points of view are acknowledged, and they feel like you are genuinely curious what they believe in, and I think that probably would make them feel more at ease to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about," says Dr. Joy Tang, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Youngstown State University.

Tang suggests that if you know you'll have guests that can't agree on anything before you hosting them, maybe sit them at either end of the table. But if guests can disagree in a civil way, it actually benefits the group to sit them closer and let them engage in conversation.

If you find yourself in an argument this holiday season, Dr. Tang suggests maybe the more polite and even more civil thing to do is ask a couple questions about why the person believes what they believe.

"I think it's always helpful to really engage with the person, to ask them why they believe what they believe in, what led them to adopt their views and to engage in that personal fashion. I think beyond the surface of disagreements, we can all try to find the deeper values that we care about and try to understand each other on that level and try and find some commonality there," adds Tang.