Dept Sem:Psychology Politics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This Department seminar is designed to introduce students to the subfield of political psychology. Its objective is to identify situational and dispositional factors which affect elite decision making and behavior. The focus will be on political leadership and how that leadership can be evaluated from a psychological perspective. After discussing common readings on political psychological and the psychological assessment of leadership, each student will be asked to study a contemporary political leader and explain some aspects of that leader’s behavior which cannot be fully explained by the politics, institutional environment, and external conditions. There will be two in-class examinations and a major oral presentation and written paper (20 to 25 pages).