AFST 30677 - Political Psychology

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

Africana Studies

Description:

Political Psychology is a multidisciplinary field of study concerned with how psychological processes are influenced by and inform political behavior of individual citizens, groups, political leaders, and behavior within political institutions. This class explores some of the major lines of political psychology theory and research, and their application to political life. These applications include the role of personality in the formation of political attitudes and democratic values; racism, stereotyping, ethnocentrism, and nationalism; the influences of emotion and cognition on voting decisions; social identity theory; information processing and political decision making; inter-group conflict; political intolerance; and methodological approaches in political psychology. This course will attempt to answer the following questions: What is racism and where does it come from? Is political intolerance an automatic response to objective stimuli or is intolerance functional? To what extent are political attitudes and values ingrained in personality? Is the support for democracy, political trust, and support for the political system linked to personality? How do individuals utilize and process information in political campaigns? Is negative campaigning effective? How did a heightened sense of fear and anxiety, following the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, influence political decisions, the support for President Bush's policies, and intolerance toward social groups? How does social group identity form? Does linking or identifying with one group leads to the rejection of other groups? What motivates George Bush? To what extent are personality theories useful in explaining the behavior of presidents and other political leaders? What are the political psychological underpinnings of inter-group conflict, mass violence, and genocide? Is the truth and reconciliation movement an effective means of recovering from genocide and violence?

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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