Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Political psychology

Political psychology

Political psychology is an interdisciplinary academic field dedicated to the relationship between psychology and political science, with a focus on the role of human thought, emotion, and behavior in politics.

It analyzes political science as related to entities such as voters, lawmakers, local and national governments and administrations, international organizations, political parties, and associations. While the grammar of "political psychology" tends to stress psychology as the central field, the discipline could also be accurately labeled "the psychology of politics," so as to more evenly recognize the interdisciplinary nature of the field.

Also not fully conveyed by the label is the wide scope of the disciplines from which political psychology draws, including anthropology, cognitive and personality psychology, sociology, psychiatry, international relations, and other more distant fields such as economics, philosophy, and the arts.

Contents

  • 1 History of political psychology
  • 2 Summer Institute in Political Psychology
  • 3 Prominent Political Psychologists

History of political psychology

The cross-fertilization between political science and psychology has risen to a modestly active level since its beginnings in the 1940s, though both fields have traditionally had a wider magnitude of collaboration with other disciplines, such as history with political science, and sociology with psychology.

Summer Institute in Political Psychology

Scholars with interest in political psychology have sought out ways to interact across academic disciplines and across universities. With the support of the International Society of Political Psychology, a Summer Institute in Political Psychology was held at the Ohio State University in 1991. The Institute brought together participants (mostly graduate students) from psychology, political science, and other fields for a multi-week, intensive set of lectures, discussion, and networking. The Summer Institute in Political Psychology was hosted by the Ohio State University from 1991 to 2003. After a one year hiatus the Institute moved to Stanford University, where it has been held in 2005, 2007, and 2008. Both the ISPP and the National Science Foundation have provided financial support during the many years of the Institute's existence. In addition, costs of the Summer Institute in Political Psychology have been underwritten during its history by Ohio State University and by the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences at Stanford University. Each year the Summer Institute in Political Psychology brings together approximately 60 students and professionals from the United States and abroad for a three week program. The curriculum is designed to accomplish one preeminent goal: to produce skilled, creative, and effective scholarly researchers who will do more and better work in political psychology as the result of their attendance at the program.

Prominent Political Psychologists

  • James David Barber
  • Eugene Borgida
  • Christopher Federico
  • Ofer Feldman
  • Stanley Feldman
  • Margaret Hermann
  • Leonie Huddy
  • Shanto Iyengar
  • John Krosnick
  • Harold Lasswell
  • Jack Levy
  • Milton Lodge
  • George Marcus
  • Rose McDermott
  • Kathleen McGraw
  • Diana Mutz
  • Virginia Sapiro
  • David Sears
  • John Sullivan
  • Charles Taber
  • Philip Tetlock
  • Dana Ward
  • Jim Sidanius

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