Political Psychology - STAT6020 (10 sp)

Dette emnet undervises på engelsk og beskrives derfor på engelsk.

About this subject:

This course will explore the role of psychology in politics. The course aims to provide a broad ranging introduction to the field of political psychology. We examine the importance of personality and genetics, evolution and political behaviour, the psychology of group decision-making and theories of cognition (‘hot’ and ‘cold’).

At the level of the individual, students learn about information processing, motivated reasoning, dissonance, biases, framing and stereotypes. We consider the relevance of recent findings in the field of neuroscience, including how brain structure and ideological preferences correlate, and ask how psychology can aid our understanding of prejudice and in/out group thinking.

Key questions will structure each of the topics, for example, in explaining voter behaviour, we ask what leads individuals to make decisions and form attitudes. Just how rational are voters? In studying ideology, we ask why people identify with political parties, vote in particular ways, and differ on a political spectrum. In the context of thinking about polarisation, we explore whether conservatives differ psychologically from liberals.

In the second half of the course, we turn to how political psychology aids our understanding of the role of mass media and politicians, as we explore whether decision-makers appeal to the electorate in a ‘rational’ way or in ways that are less obvious; for example by stoking a sense of fear, or by appeal to evolved ‘tribal’ instincts.

The aim throughout will be to show how political psychology sheds light on important and relevant contemporary challenges concerning the health of contemporary democracies. To show how political psychology can help reduce clashes, recognising that though at root we may be ‘tribal’, and our moral psychology essentially emotional (as opposed to strictly rational beings), we have also evolved mechanisms for cooperation.