Module Directory

Politics is about people. Everything – angry tweeting, constitutional design, environmental lobbying, states going to war – boils down to the opinions, decisions and behaviour of individuals, and understanding those is the territory of psychology. Political psychology is a growing and thriving subfield, to which this module provides a wide-ranging introduction.

We will apply both the theories and methods of psychology to the behaviour of a range of political actors – voters, leaders, protestors, even terrorists. This is a practical as well as a theoretical module, with heavy emphasis on how we learn about political psychology and with every student designing – and perhaps in their dissertation executing – a research project in the field.

The aims of this module are:

• To give an understanding of the psychological underpinnings of the political phenomena studied in other PGT modules


• To give grounding in the core concepts in social, cognitive and personality psychology


• To give an understanding of the drivers of and biases in human reasoning that shape political thinking


• To give an understanding of how that political thinking interacts with and is shaped by political institutions


• To give accessible examples of empirical research that they can evaluate in terms of validity and usefulness


• To give a feasible dissertation project option via the experimental design assignment


• To give greater empathy with ‘the other side’ in political terms, via an understanding of the psychology underlying ideological differences, polarisation and skewed perceptions.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Gain a firm grasp of where political psychology sits with respect to the broader disciplines of political science and psychology.


2. Apply knowledge of the core concepts in social, cognitive and personality psychology.


3. Gain an ability to assess the contribution and to assess the weaknesses of key readings in the field.


4. Recognise that our conclusions about political psychology depend heavily on both definition and measurement.


5. Gain experience of research design in practice via the experimental design assignment.

Indicative Syllabus:

• Politics and the brain


• Personality and values


• Authority and conformity


• Emotions


• Group identity


• Prejudice and polarisation


• Facts, fake news and conspiracies


• Leaders and decisions


• Conflict and peace


• Mental health and politics

This module will be delivered via:

• A weekly two-hour interactive seminar.
• Each session will consist of a blend of lecturing, Q&A, group and whole-class discussion – the precise blend to depend in part on student numbers. 

There will be two Required Readings each week: one an academic article or chapter, another a topical piece – a blog post, newspaper article, Twitter thread, or some such – that illustrates the issues raised and provides a basis for class discussion. There will be longer lists of Useful Reading, helpful for detailed preparation and especially essay writing.