Psychology Politics

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This graduate course in the Department of Government examines political leadership from a psychological perspective. Focusing on the psychological dimensions of character, style, and world view, it provides a foundation for the assessment of political leaders: their rhetoric, decision making, beliefs, and the style of their activities in office. We begin with an overview of the psychological dimensions of political leadership. In that overview, we examine mental health in general, suitability for office in particular, data sources on personalities, and methods of evaluation. After identifying and exploring the psychological components that relate to performance in office--character, style, and world view--we discuss character attributes, both positive and negative, which political leaders have evidenced. The second part of the course applies theory to practice; it looks at the leadership styles and personality types of political leaders, mostly but not exclusively, U.S. presidents. We begin this section by examining the case of Woodrow Wilson, comparing him to other American presidents. We then turn to Mahatma Gandhi, and finally to contemporary U.S. presidents beginning with Bill Clinton. Our objective here is to examine the influence of the president’s personality on his principal policy decisions and the manner in which those decisions were made. A full period examination of course readings and seminar discussions follows this part of the course. The remainder of the course will be devoted to individual research and the presentation of case studies by all members of the class. Each student will be expected to choose a political leader (excluding the individuals we have examined in the course) and provide a psychological profile that discusses that person’s character, style, and world view. A variety of references, including the person’s own writings and speeches, should be used to complete the profile. Students will be expected to illustrate how that leader’s character, style, cognition, and beliefs affected his/her behavior and/or major policy decisions. The psychological profile should be used to supplement or substitute for the environmental, situational, and political factors that normally are used to explain and anticipate behavior and decision making. Students will present their leadership profiles in the final three meetings of the course—11/22, 11/29, and 12/6. The research paper is to be submitted no later than 5pm on the Monday following the end of classes, December 10th. Students should aim for a paper of approximately 15-20 pages in length, double spaced with at least 1 inch margins, pages numbered, and with standard citation procedures.