Political Learning and Political Psychology: A Question of Norms

Learning from political experience is widely regarded as an important driver of change and as a source of progress in international politics (Haas, 1990, 1997; Levy, 1994). One of the principal contributions of political psychology to the analysis of international politics has been its discovery of the systematic biases toward the status quo in patterns of thinking. Without learning, embedded patterns of political thought and behavior are likely to persist as long as environments remain relatively constant. If political psychologists are not fully satisWed with the status quo, analysis of political learning should be a central focus of analysis.