Political Psych

1. Internal Influences of Behavior

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   • Motives Emotions Cognition - cognitive complexity Values and Identity Attitudes Personality
2. External Influences of Behavior

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   • Group membership Economics Media
3. Interactionist Perspective

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   • Behavior is a function of the person and the environment Political science, psychology, history, communications, sociology, and arheology

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• stable over time; helps to account for some regularity of behavior

1. Psychoanalytic

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   • Freud: Id, ego and superego Unconscious Role of drives: sex and aggression and pleasure principle Use defense mechanisms of denial, repression, projection and rationalization
   1. Psychobiography

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      • In depth case study of a political leader, tracing their personal, social and political development from early on may seek to identify patterns of behavior explained by psychoanalytic theory can focus on pathology: neuroticism, narcissism, and paranoia
2. Trait

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   • Characteristics of the individual remain stable across the lifespan
   1. Allport

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      • Cardinal, central and secondary traits
   2. Eyesnck

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      • Factor analysis: OCEAN
3. Motives

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   • Look at goals Need for affiliation, power and achievement Measured at a distance using speeches and letters unreliable
4. Authoritarianism

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   • Adorno, 1950 Strict Sets boundaries May never develop ego, or just week
   1. Right Wing Authoritarianism

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      • Altmeyer, 1996 Product of Social Learning Lacks critical thinking Lacks ego Ignores contradictions Sees world as dangerous
5. Barber's Typology

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   • Looks at satisfaction with job (-/+) or energy put into job (active or passive)

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• Elements: personality, charisma, emotion, cognitive style, interactions, leadership style

1. Westen

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   • Emotion has evolved because it works Cannot understand behavior without understanding brain Amygdala, prefrontal cortex
2. Management Styles
   1. Formalistic

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      • set rules and boundaries
   2. Competitive

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      • gather information through debate and direct contact
   3. Collegial

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      • work on with others as resources; team effort
3. Leadership styles

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   • Transformational vs transactional

1. Ways of processing information
   1. Attribution Theory

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      • We come up with reasons for behaviors through heuristics Errors occur when individuals blame others instead of the situation
      1. Availability heuristic

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         • first thing to come to mind- bad luck to fly on 9/11
      2. Representativeness heuristic

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         • Fallback on group assumptions ie stereotypes
      3. Anchoring and Adjustment heuristic

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         • we start with one idea then change our perceptions to yield a different result
   2. Consistency theories
      1. Balance
      2. Cognitive Dissonance
      3. Belief dilemmas

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         • denial bolstering - use other cognitions to balance differentiation - break apart inconsistencies Transcendence - pair inconsistencies with a broad category
   3. Categorization

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      • Cognitive misers Schemas Stereotypes Image theories
2. Social Identity
   1. Tajfel (1978)

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      • we strive for + social identity to do this we do comparisons with out-groups members will leave group when it is not satisfactory
   2. Negative Social Identity

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      • Handled through social mobility, social creativity, or social competition
      • Sometimes group will maintain the inferior position because they believe it is just. However this can change --> colonial domination
   3. A Purple America

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      • More of a continuum than exclusive More representative of real world May reduce tendency to categorize on such simple level

1. Heuristics

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   • Affect Referral - name recognition Endorsement - celebrity endorsement Familiarity - devil you know Habit heuristic - always voting for one party Viability heuristic - want to associate yourself with the winner
2. Other Voting Strategies

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   • Compensatory strategy Noncompensatory strategy Confirmatory Decision Making Model Rational choice model Semiautomatic intuitive decision making model
3. Organizational Themes

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   • Funnel of Causality Maximalist Knowledge structures
4. Persuasion Models

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   • Yale Attitude Change Project Dual Routes Model
5. Emotional Constitution

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   • Memorable Plot Vivid Things for and against Moral Stirring
   1. Agenda Setting

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      • Media tells us what to pay attention to through framing and priming

1. Types

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   • Common-bond Common-Identity Intimacy Task-oriented Social categories Weak social relationships
   1. Structure

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      • Roles Norms Group cohesion
2. Formation

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   • Functional Perspective Interpersonal Attraction Perspective
3. Development

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   • Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning
   1. Group Cohesion

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      • How the group develops affect how likely a person is to stay in the group: - Time spent together - Like other members - Rewarding - External threats - Leaders encourage warmth
4. Performing

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   • Social facilitation, social loafing Team productivity
   1. Decision Making

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      • Groupthink New Group Syndrome Bureaucratic Politics Manipulation Group polarization
      1. Improving Decision Making

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         • Devil's advocate Multiple Advocacy
5. Conflict

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   • Causes: attributional biases, faulty communication, face-saving Conflict escalation coalitions

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• Prejudice - attitudinal Stereotype - belief Discrimination - act

1. Terrorism

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   • Crenshaw: act of violence small numbers intimidation = goal hurt, not destroy political & symbolic low power group
   • Rubenstein Threat or use of violence Action for political purpose Low power group vs high power Low power claims to represent the masses
   1. Why?
      1. Social Identity Theory
      2. Image Theory
      3. Realistic Conflict Theory
   2. Recruitment

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      • Depluralization Deindividuation Moral disengagement
   3. Indoctrination

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      • Isolation Propaganda Dehumanization & scapegoating Conformity
2. Explanations
   1. Realistic conflict theory
   2. Social Learning Theory
   3. Social Identity Theory
   4. Personality

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      • Authoritarian Personality Social Dominance Theory - hierarchies maintaining status quo
3. Politics is Complicated Model

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   • White Americans switch between systematic racism and individual factors
4. Symbolic Racism Model

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   • Racism is now traditional individualistic American views

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• Sources of Conflict: Entitlement Past Achievement Perceived power Rules and norms Comparisons Formation of struggle groups Scarcity Distrust Absences of alternatives
• Sources of Stability: Broad normative goals Absence of envious comparisons Failure of struggle group formation Social mobility Blocking outside support

1. Resolution

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   • Reconciliation and forgiveness
   1. Integration Strategies

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      • Direct contact between P&O 1. Remove conflict 2. Mutual interdependence 3. Equal status 4. Positive contact within task 5. Informal contact outside of task 6. Social norms of equality
      1. Problem Solving

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         • Compromise Agreement Integrates both P&O interests
   2. Third Parties
   3. Shared Sovereignty
   4. Utilitarian Integration Strategies
2. Strategic choice

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   • Dual concern model: contentious behavior, avoiding, yielding, problem solving
3. Contentious tactics
   1. Light

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      • Ingratiation Feather ruffling Persuasive arguments Shaming
   2. Heavy

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      • Promises Threats Irrevocable commitments
   3. Escalation
4. Deterrence

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   • Back and forth; possible stalemate