We recently witnessed many forms of political violence related to the murder of George Floyd, COVID-19, and the Presidential election in our neighborhoods, in the Capitol, and across the states. What can explain such mass behavior? Why is the country so politically polarized and divided, and why has it become so difficult to understand each other when they have different political ideology and beliefs? Where do such differing views originate from? How do we come to decide our positions on major policy issues and identify ourselves as liberals or conservatives?
This course will introduce you to the interdisciplinary field of political psychology. We will learn key concepts and theories from social psychology and explore how personality, emotions, morality, genetic differences, and partisanship among others influence people's attitudes and behaviors towards politics. This course is organized around six broad themes: (1) Evolutionary psychology and biopolitics, (2) Emotions and motivated reasoning, (3) Morality, (4) Race and Gender, (5) Authoritarianism, and (6) Collective violence.