Political Psychology

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary investigation of the major topics and debates characterizing the subfield of political psychology. PL SC 466 Political Psychology (3) This course offers an interdisciplinary investigation of the major topics and debates characterizing the subfield of political psychology. It draws on research being done in a variety of disciplines and disciplinary subfields including social, developmental and clinical psychology; the cognitive neurosciences; biological anthropology; genetics; evolution; and behavioral economics to examine political behavior. Specifically, the course will examine the thinking and actions of both political elites and the mass public, and consider the reasoning processes they employ in order to make sense of the political world. Topics to be covered include how emotions (e.g., fear, lust) shape human reasoning; how preferences develop; how differences in cognition, emotion and personality inform political judgment and shape political leadership; how prejudices develop and affect war and other conflicts; how political and social identities develop and how they affect individuals' political judgments and decisions; how neurobiological influences operate in conjunction with social and cultural factors to affect how individuals process information; and how genetics and hormones affect individuals political development and behavior. Through these and other topics covered in the course, students will develop an understanding of how political elites and ordinary citizens process information, develop preferences and make decisions, and why, as a consequence, they act as they do. This course fulfills the distribution requirement for American politics and comparative politics, as well as the advanced and related course requirements for Political Science majors. The course also fulfills the supporting course requirement for International Politics majors.