Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Course can be repeated for credit. Students may not take this course for further credit if similar topics are covered. See Psychology department website for course description.

COURSE DETAILS:

Political Psychology
We will examine the bidirectional relationship between politics and psychology. First, the course acts as a primer in political psychology, which is the application of what is known about human psychology to the study of politics. We will examine theoretical perspectives and their correponding evidence for a range of important topics including the origins of political ideology, the processes of radicalization, the causes of intergroup conflict, and the role of personality in election outcomes. We will examine current events within the context of key psychological theories. Second, we will also examine the role of politics in psychology. Social scientists have long known that political beliefs bias the way they think about, understand, and interpret the world around them. We will explore how political biases can influence the scientific process including the development of hypotheses, study design, and the interpretation of evidence. This course is about the intersection of the political and the psychological.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Broaden your knowledge of both the role of psychology in politics and the role of politics in psychology
Develop your ability to critically think about political content
Develop your ability to articulate research findings from a reasoned perspective rather than from emotion
Develop your ability to recognize possible political biases within psychological research
Be able to identify key ingredients of objective research
Be able to apply theoretical perspectives to understanding current events

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: