Political psychology

The field of political psychology has grown rapidly in recent years and there is now a range of academic outlets specifically focused on political psychology. On a broad level, political psychology concerns the application of psychological knowledge to the study of politics. As such, the field of political psychology concerns itself with citizens’ political participation, here seen as any number of activities aiming to influence public policy either directly or by affecting the selection of persons who make those policies. Political psychology is an interdisciplinary academic field, dedicated to understanding politics, politicians and political behavior from a psychological perspective, and psychological processes using socio-political perspectives.

Focusing on the psychology underlying political activity the course covers political behavior, political attitudes and political communication. In a series of seminars centered on the most important psychological theories, active participation is required and academic discussions are encouraged. These discussions may come to concern the psychology of political activities such as working on political campaigns, donating money to parties or causes, contacting public officials, petitioning, protesting and working with other people on political issues. Depending on the topic of each seminar, these discussions may also come to concern today’s political trends such as the growing polarization on vaccines and climate policies as well as the psychological roots of the so-called culture war.

The course starts with an overview of psychological theories central to the field. Psychological models of judgment and decision making are compared to economic rational choice models in the context of analysing and predicting behaviour among politicians and citizens. A series of lectures and seminars then cover topics such as economic decisions, resource scarcity, distributive fairness as well as social influence and in- and out-group effects. The lectures and seminars furthermore cover topics related to morality and polarization.

The course will end with each student writing a paper on a chosen topic related to political psychology broadly and centered on a specific political problem or issue, and the psychology underlying it. The student will in the course paper formulate a research question, present and integrate previous research, and arrive at a suggested cause of action and/or implementation of a realistic policy based on relevant psychological theory and research findings. The papers are then presented and discussed at an examination seminar.