Political psychology

This is a postgraduate module introducing students to the field of political psychology – an interdisciplinary approach to the study of politics that sits at the intersection of political science and psychology. Political psychologists tackle many important questions that cover a wide range of political subjects, such as:

• Are political preferences innate?
• Why are some people liberal whilst others are conservative?
• Why do people respond to the same political news in different ways?
• Why do political partisans hate each other?
• Are racism and discrimination inevitable?
• Why do people engage in political violence?
• Are political leaders normal people?

We examine answers to these questions that draw on a wide range of theoretical and empirical approaches, from genetic inheritance and physiological predisposition, to the influence of social groups and motivated reasoning.

In the first part of the course we examine the major theoretical and empirical approaches to studying political psychology, drawing on genetics, physiology, and cognitive, social, and moral psychology. In the second part, we apply the insights from these approaches to three important areas of politics: discrimination and inter-group conflict, terrorism and political violence, and the study of political elites.

Week 1: Thinking about politics like a psychologist

• What is political psychology?
• How do I read psychological research when I’ve never studied psychology?
• What methods do political psychologists use to study politics?
• What is the replication crisis and why does it matter?

Week 2: Predisposition and personality

• Are political preferences innate?
• Where do political preferences come from?
• What is a ‘personality’ and how does it relate to politics?

Week 3: Emotions and politics

• What are emotions?
• Would politics be better if emotions weren’t involved?
• Do incidental emotions lead our political judgement astray?
• Does it work when politicians try to appeal to our emotions?

Week 4: Authoritarianism and moral psychology

• What is the authoritarian personality?
• Do ’normal’ people become authoritarian when they are afraid?
• Where do moral preferences come from?
• What happens when people disagree about moral issues in politics?

Week 5: Social Identity Theory and Partisanship

• What are social identities?
• How does situation affect identification?
• Is partisanship a social identity?
• Why is political polarization on the rise?

Week 6: Information processing and motivated reasoning

• What is motivated reasoning?
• How do people gather information about politics?
• Do partisans actually see the world differently?
• If nobody can think without bias, is democracy doomed?

Week 7: Discrimination and inter-group conflict

• Are people inherently racist and sexist?
• Are stereotypes useful?
• What happens when people live parallel lives?
• Does meeting people from other ethnic groups make you less racist?

Week 8: Political violence and terrorism

• Is political violence about individuals or groups?
• Why do people engage in acts of collective violence?
• Why do some people become terrorists?
• Can extremists be de-radicalized?

Week 9: Political elites

• Are political elites normal people?
• What kinds of people decide to become politicians?
• Can we assess personality at a distance?
• Why do political leaders make bad decisions?

Week 10: Political Psychology or Politicized Psychology?

• Can we trust political psychology research?
• Is political psychology research replicable?
• Is there a liberal bias in political psychology?
• Should political psychology aim to be a neutral science?