How do some political leaders capture popular support? What is the appeal of belonging to a nation? Can democracy thrive? The Psychology of Politics explores how the emotions which underpin everyday life are also vital in what happens on the political stage. It draws on psychoanalytic ideas to show how fear and passion shape the political sphere in our changing societies and cultures, and examines topical social issues and events including Brexit, the changing nature of democracy, activism, and Trump in America. In a changing global political climate, The Psychology of Politics shows us how we can make sense of what drives human conduct in relation to political ideas and action.

The Political Psychology of Women in U.S. Politics is a comprehensive resource for students, researchers, and practitioners interested in women and politics. Highly original and drawing from the best available research in psychology and political science, this book is designed to summarize and extend interdisciplinary research that addresses how and why men and women differ as citizens, as political candidates, and as officeholders. The chapters in this volume are focused on differences in the political behavior and perceptions of men and women, yet the chapters also speak to broader topics within American politics – including political socialization, opinion formation, candidate emergence, and voting behavior. Broadly, this volume addresses the causes and consequences of women’s underrepresentation in American government. This book is the ideal resource for students and researchers of all levels interested in understanding the unique political experiences of diverse women, and the importance of rectifying the problem of gender disparities in American politics.

This book is perhaps the first systematic treatment of politics from the perspective of cultural psychology. Politics is a complex that psychology usually fails to understand— as it assumes a position in society that attempts to be free of politics itself. Politics is associated both with an everyday practice, and the dynamics of globalization; with the way group conflicts, ideologies, social representations and identities, are lived and co-constructed by social actors. The authors of the book address these issues through their research grounded in different parts of the world, on democracy and political order, the social representation of power, gender studies, the use of metaphors and symbolic power in political discourse, social identities and methodological questions. The book will be used by social and political psychologists but is also of interest to the other social sciences: political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, educationalists, and it is at a level where sophisticated lay public would be able to appreciate its coverage. Its use in upperlevel college teaching is possible, and expected at graduate/postgraduate levels.

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. This text 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. 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.

This text is designed to prepare the students to understand the ancient questions raised by our elders, from Ancient Greece through the Enlightenment and to today. And, to see how the newer approaches enable us to escape static disputes by using new tools, conceptual, theoretical, and methodological to seek new answers.

This book is about how individuals make political decisions and form impressions of politicians and policies, with a strong emphasis on the role of the mass media in those processes.