ABSTRACT

What shapes political behavior more: the situations in which individuals find themselves, or the internal psychological makeup---beliefs, values, and so on---of those individuals? This is perhaps the leading division within the psychological study of politics today. Political Psychology: Situations, Individuals, and Cases, 2nd edition, provides a concise, readable, and conceptually organized introduction to the topic of political psychology by examining this very question. Using this situationism--dispositionism framework—which roughly parallels the concerns of social and cognitive psychology—this book focuses on such key explanatory mechanisms as behaviorism, obedience, personality, groupthink, cognition, affect, emotion, and neuroscience to explore topics ranging from voting behavior and racism to terrorism and international relations. The new edition includes a new chapter on the psychology of the media and communication. Houghton has also updated the text to analyze recent political events such as the 2012 election, and to include up-and-coming research in the areas of neuroscience, behavioral economics, and more. Houghton's clear and engaging examples directly challenge students to place themselves in both real and hypothetical situations which involve intense moral and political dilemmas. This highly readable text will provide students with the conceptual foundation they need to make sense of the rapidly changing and increasingly important field of political psychology.

chapter |36 pages

Introduction

chapter Chapter 1|21 pages

Two Conceptual Schemes or Distinctions

chapter Chapter 2|13 pages

A Brief History of the Discipline

part I|56 pages

The Situation

chapter Chapter 3|11 pages

Behaviorism and Human Freedom

chapter Chapter 4|13 pages

The Psychology of Obedience

chapter Chapter 5|13 pages

Creating a “Bad Barrel”

chapter Chapter 6|17 pages

Group Decision-Making

part II|96 pages

The Individual

chapter Chapter 7|18 pages

Psychobiography

chapter Chapter 8|15 pages

Personality and Beliefs

chapter Chapter 9|21 pages

Cognition

chapter Chapter 10|13 pages

Affect and Emotion

chapter Chapter 11|27 pages

Biopolitics, Neuropolitics, and Genopolitics

part III|127 pages

Bringing the Two Together

chapter Chapter 12|15 pages

The Psychology of Voting Behavior

chapter Chapter 15|24 pages

The Psychology of Racism and Political Intolerance

chapter Chapter 16|18 pages

The Psychology of Terrorism

chapter Chapter 17|20 pages

The Psychology of International Security

chapter Chapter 18|7 pages

The Future of Political Psychology