PSYCHOLOGY OF
POLITICS
WEEK ONE (1)
2ND. SEM., AY 2016-2017
PERLA P. PALOMARES, DPA
INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY = at the
most general level, is an application of
what is known about human psychology to
the study of politics.
Introduction
continues. . . .
It addresses the motives and actions of the
political leaders on matters affecting: (1)
policy decision-making; and (2) Conflict
Resolution
Introduction
continues. . . .
It also deals with the dynamics of mass
political behavior in terms of: (a) voting (b)
collective action (c) the influence of
political communications, political
socialization and civic education, group-
based political behavior, social justice, and
the political incorporation of immigrants.
Introduction
continues. . . .
Modern political psychology as an academic
discipline was born in the decades between the
FIRST AND THE SECOND WORLD WARS. It
was developed in the University of Chicago
under the encouragement of political scientist
Charles Merriam. It was one of Merriam’s
student, Harold Lasswell who responded to that
call.
HAROLD D.
LASSWELL
His special emphasis on psychological
processes as they affect political processes
has been influential in shaping the approach
of most American social scientists to the
field of political psychology.
LASSWELL’S
CONTRIBUTION
KNOWN BOOKS:
(1) Psychopathology and Politics (1930) = this
path-breaking book is still astonishing in
focus and sweep. It is an application of
psychoanalysis to politics for the purpose of
understanding the political mind.
Contribution continues.
...
(2) The book focused on understanding the
sources of and responses to personal
insecurity, and it examined their impact on
major changes in world history, especially
world revolutions.
Contribution continues.
...
(3) Politics: Who Gets What, When, and How
(1936) = It was a statement of the main ideas
in World Politics and Personal Insecurity in a
more systematic and accessible language.
HAROLD LASSWELL
His perspective leads to a political psychology
largely centering upon individual and social
psychological processes such as: motivation,
conflict, perception, cognition, learning,
socialization, attitude formation and group
dynamics – and upon individual personality and
psychopathology as the causal factors influencing
political behavior.
POLITICAL
PSYCHOLOGY
The field of political psychology is the
study of the interaction of political and
psychological processes: this is a
bidirectional interaction.
THEORIES AND
APPROACHES
Rational Choice
Theory
Rational Choice Theory is built on a set of basic
assumptions about human behavior that resemble
the requirements for a well-functioning citizenry:
first, individuals have consistent preferences on how
to achieve their goals; second, individuals assign a
value or utility to these goals; and third,
probabilities are assigned to the different ways of
achieving such goals.
BIOPOLITICS
Over the last decade, social scientists have begun
to view human behavior thru the prism of biology
with intriguing results: neuroscience shed light on
information processing and emotion. Evolutionary
psychology underscores the biologically adaptive
role of various social behaviors, and behavioral
genetics uncovers the heritability of many social and
political behaviors,
Personality and
Psychodynamics
Personality is usually defined as a collection of
relatively persistent individual differences that
transcend specific situations and contribute to the
observed stability of attitudes and behavior. In the
last ten years, political psychologists have shown
renewed interest in stable personality traits and
their effects on political attitudes and behavior
based, in part, on growing consensus on the basic
structure of personality traits.
COGNITIVE AND
AFFECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Cognitive psychology and neuroscience have had
profound influence on political psychology thru their
discovery of key features of the cognitive system:
limited attention and working memory, implicit
attitudes that lie outside conscious awareness, the
rapid formation of habitual mental associations, and
the interplay of affect and cognition.
INTERGROUP
RELATIONS
Intergroup research draws on common frameworks
such as social identity theory to explain political
behavior in numerous regions of the world. It also
draws on an integrated model of affect and
cognition, with affect playing a specially important
role in motivating collective action and driving
responses to societal and personal threat.
CONCLUSION
The psychology of politics lies on various
theories and approaches which try to explain the
behavior of the individuals in relation to politics.
The political behavior of the individuals needs to be
studied in order to make the people understand what
made a political leader, or a number of people
involved in decision making on other political
processes choose a certain decision.
SOURCES
Deutsch, Morton, et. al (1983). Political
Dimensions of Psychology. Paris: UNESCO
Aspinwall, L. G. & Staudinger, Ll (Eds) (2002). A
Psychology of Human Strengths: Fundamental
Questions and Future directions for a Positive
Psychology. Washington, DC: APA Books.
SOURCES
Cottam, M. L., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors, E., &
Preston, T. (2010). Introduction to Political
Psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Psychology
Press.
Dalton, R., & Klingemann, H. D. (2007). The
Oxford Handbook of Political Behavior.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
SOME INSIGHTS WHY
WE STUDY POLITICAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Emotions shapes judgment
Separate tribes and weakened bonds of
humanity
Perception shapes reality
Emotions. . . . .
We have the tendency to be overly critical
to the information that challenges that one
believes to be true. People are inclined to
the values, views, and positions that we
consider as good and right.
Separate tribes. . . . .
In order to make sense of the world, we have
to divide various aspects of our experience
into distinct categories. This includes
partitioning people into groups such as
adults and children, employed and
unemployed, domestic and foreign, etc. As a
result, we often see those who are different
from us as less.
Perception shapes. .
Our individual beliefs and worldviews . .
shape our sense of what is real.
INDIVIDUAL
PERSONALITY = is a constellation of stable
individual characteristic that are assumed to
transcend contextual effects.
Political Psychologists have more recently
looked at a wider variety of personal
dispositions, including attitudes, motives,
decision style, and modes of interpersonal
interaction, stress responses and expertise
(Greenstein, 1975).
INDIVIDUAL continues.
....
In studying the role of personality, two
approaches could be applied: first, measures of
various personality traits with political
attitudes; and, second, positive dimensions are
self-esteem and a sense of personal control.
RACIAL CONFLICT
Racial attitudes clearly play an important role
in determining racial policy references and
evaluations of candidates (Kinder and Sears,
1981, Sears and Allen, 1984).
Realistic Threats: safety, politics, health,
well-being and economy.
Racial conflict
continues. . . .
Racism is the belief that characteristics and
abilities can be attributed to people simply on the
basis of their race and that some racial groups are
superior to others. Racism and discrimination have
been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear
or hatred of others in times of conflict and war,
and even during economic downturns.
RACIAL CONFLICT
Symbolic racism is a blend of anti-black affect
and traditional values, while realistic racial
threats have a weaker effect, but the role of
group conflict here is not clear.
Symbolic Threats
Values, Attitudes, Morals, Standards and
Beliefs
GENDER
Few gender differences in attitudes
existed except in matter of morality.
Changes in women’s social roles upon
their group consciousness is growing and
thus, upon their political attitudes (Klein,
1984).
Gender continues. . .
There has been a shift of women’s role in the
society, to being just in home into the labor
force and out of marriages and into
independent living arrangements that
represents the changes which are out of step
with the ability of social institutions to
support the changing economic role of
women.
Gender continues. . .
Political participation differs widely in its
form-from such mainstream behavior as
voting, the main activity of ordinary
citizens, to engaging in protests or
revolutionary behavior, or serving as an
official in a legitimate government.
Gender continues. . .
Most data on the mass public tend to
show that political participation is
associated with such indicators of a
healthy personality as high self-esteem, a
strong sense of personal efficacy, and
satisfaction of basic physical, safety, and
social needs (Lane, 1959; Renshon,
1974).
AGENTS OF POLITICAL
PARTICIPATION/SOCIALIZATION
FAMILY: The family’s role in forming the
individual’s political personality is derived from
the family’s role to provide a child his/her basic
need. The child tends to identify with his parents
and to adopt their outlook toward the political
system. Communication is the best way for the
parents to encourage their children to express their
political options.
Agents continues. . .
Schools: are a crucial agent of political
socialization, as they teach the knowledge
necessary for political participation.
Schools help the students to value
cooperation, fair competition, and
authorities.
Agents continues. . . .
Religion: Different religious traditions
have very different values, and one’s faith
often significantly influences one’s
political views.
Agents continues. . . .
Media/Mass Media: Media is growing and
thus, its influence to the masses continues.
Yet, its widespread presence is often seen as
a danger to the society.
Key Events: A major political event can
shape an entire generation’s attitudes toward
its nation and government.
CONCLUSION
Some challenges that we are currently facing:
the entire society live in fundamentally different
realities; fear runs rampant on mass media,
painting many of our public servants in the image
of Hitler; important information about the threats
to our country is treated as speculative opinion or
false belief; a significant portion of the populace
doesn’t trust the governing body.
Conclusion continues.
We can try solving challenges thru the lens of
political psychology. Understand how one’s
mind work and out of the differences in
group understanding try to find a common
ground. Build trust and create new coalition
that is anchored on the concern that we can
unite a culturally distinct community.
SOURCES
Greenstein, 1992. Can Personality and
Politics Be Studies Systematically?
Sears, 2003. The Origins of Symbolic
Racism. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology.