Government 252
The Psychology of Politics
Ron Seyb
Ladd 310
Ext. 5248
Office Hours:
M&W, 12:30-2:30 PM
Fall 2015
Course Description
This course addresses three questions: (1) Why do some Americans
choose to pursue careers in politics? (2) How do political elites make choices?
(3) What effect do these choices have on public policy and civic engagement?
Political psychologists seek answers to these questions by exploring the motives,
beliefs, and personality characteristics of and social influences on political
leaders. The course will demonstrate that the reasons political actors give for
their behavior are rarely accurate. Much political behavior is driven by
unconscious motives, irrational beliefs, personality traits, and informationprocessing biases that can lead political actors to endorse policies that are
contrary to their interests and choose courses of action that are
counterproductive, immoral, or destructive.
The first half of the course will address why political actors make such
"foolish" choices by exploring how they acquire their personality traits and belief
systems, process information, and respond to the demands of their social and
political environments. The course's second half will explore both the techniques
for and the consequences of political leaders' attempts to "market" these choices
to an at times skeptical, at times indifferent public.
Course Goals
The course is designed to enable students to
1. Appreciate the distinctive contribution that political psychology makes
to the study of political behavior
2. Understand the ways that cognitive biases, social influence, and
personality traits can prevent even the most capable of leaders from acting
“rationally”
3. Analyze how political leaders employ various communication
techniques to lead their audiences to draw erroneous conclusions or treat
as indisputable facts what are really contestable propositions
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4. Acquire a better understanding of why political leaders sometimes
seem to lose their moral compass when making decisions that have a
conspicuous moral dimension
Course Requirements
(1) There will be three in-class examinations: a short answer
examination on Friday, October 2 (15%), a midterm examination on Friday,
October 23 (25%) and a final examination to be administered on Wednesday,
December 16 at 6:00 PM (25%).
(2) You will be required to write a 12-15 page psychobiography of a
president of your choice that uses Don McAdams’s George W. Bush and the
Redemptive Dream to inform your analysis. This assignment will account for
35% of your course grade.
You will complete your psychobiography in three stages: (1) You will on
Friday, September 25 submit the name of the president whose psychobiography
you wish to write. Failure to submit your choice by the deadline will result in a
10% deduction from your final grade on the psychobiography. (2) You will on
Friday, November 13 submit a 2-3 page paper that will constitute the
introductory section of your paper. You will in this section present both your
thesis and your paper’s conceptual framework. Your grade on this paper will
account for 15% of your final grade on the psychobiography assignment. And
(3) You will on Monday, December 7 submit your final 12-15 page
psychobiography.
Attendance
You are allowed to miss 4 (four) classes. There are no excused absences.
I do not grant excused absences for two reasons: (1) I am unable to discriminate
between a valid and an invalid excuse for an absence (i.e., I cannot tell the
difference between those illnesses, cosmic events, and Ant Man caliber life
changes that are serious and those that are trivial), and (2) Four absences allow
you to miss more than a week of class without incurring any penalty. That is
more generous than Joe Biden’s hug policy. I will treat tardies as absences. I
do often say significant things at the outset of class about readings, assignments,
Biblical plague forecasts, etc. It is hence important that you be present at 8:40
AM.
I will deduct 2% from your final grade for each absence over the 3
absence limit (e.g., a student who earns a cumulative score of “90” (A-) on the
course assignments who compiles 4 absences will receive an “88” (B+) for the
course).
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If you reach four absences, I will send you an email alerting you that
your next absence will cause me to deduct 2%from your course grade.
You should also keep in mind that according to The Academic Information
Guide, "any students who miss more than a third of the [class] sessions may
expect to be barred from [the] final examination. In such cases, the course
grade will be recorded as F."
Laptops and Tablets
Laptops and tablets are not allowed in class. I have first-hand experience
with the temptations of social media (#emojiaffectation). I hence recognize that
not even the most steely of wills can resist these near occasions of sin. Students
who have a disability that precludes them from taking notes with any instrument
other than a laptop must provide me with documentation testifying to their
“laptop needs” by the end of the second week of classes (i.e., Friday,
September 18)
Smart Phones and Their Ilk
I recognize that phones are now such an essential accessory that they are a
staple of the JustFab accessory wall. You, nonetheless, cannot use these devices
during class because, while I know that there is some dispute about this, the
preponderance of the evidence suggests that they are distraction machines and
not sparkling amulets of knowledge production. If I do see you texting in class
or otherwise interacting with this portal to 140 character burrito commentary, I
will send you an email reminding you of the policy. Should I see you using your
tech gear a second time, I will deduct two points from your course grade, with
additional two point deductions tacked on for each additional time I identify a
criminal pattern (NB: I do not accept appeals of the nature of “But I wasn’t
texting.” You hence should try to avoid giving off even the appearance of
texting).
Books
The following books can be purchased at The Skidmore Shop for less than
it cost for a bottle of “Just for Bernie: The Only Hair Product Tested by Bernie
Sanders in a Category Four Hurricane”:
Kevin Arceneaux and Martin Johnson, Changing Minds or Changing Channels?
Dan McAdams, George W. Bush and the Redemptive Dream
Lauren Slater, Opening Skinner's Box
Drew Westen, The Political Brain
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Important Note about The Hodges Harbrace Handbook
All Government majors are now required to own a copy of The Hodges
Harbrace Handbook. While it would be ideal if you owned the most recent edition
of this style guide (the 18th edition), you certainly can manage with an earlier
edition in the same way that Andy Cohen manages to be entertaining without a
soul.
Weekly Topics and Reading Assignments
Note: An asterisk (*) denotes a reading available on Blackboard
Week 1: (September 9-11): Political Leadership in America
Readings: *Garry Wills, Introduction to Certain Trumpets
*Garry Wills, “Business in Gettysburg,” in Lincoln at Gettysburg
Week 2 (September 14-18): The Empathic Leader
Readings: *Colleen Shogun, “The Political Utility of Empathy in Presidential
Leadership,” Presidential Studies Quarterly (December 2009)
*Garry Wills, “Electoral Leader: Franklin Roosevelt,” in Certain
Trumpets
Week 3 (September 21-25): Deliberative Choice v. Automatic Processing: The
Habits of Highly Effective and Ineffective Leaders
Readings: *Daniel Kahneman, “The Characters of the Story,” in Thinking, Fast
and Slow
*Charles Duhigg, “The Power of a Crisis: How Leaders Create Habits
through Accidents and Design,” The Power of Habit
*Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, “Introduction” to Nudge
SELECTION OF PRESIDENT FOR PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY DUE (Must Be
Submitted by 5:00 PM)
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 AT 5:00 PM
Week 4 (September 28-October 2) Political Beliefs: Feelings Shape Preferences
Readings: *Shanto Iyengar, et al., “Affect, Not Ideology: A Social Identity
Perspective on Polarization,” Public Opinion Quarterly (Fall
2012)
*Russell Granger, “Donald Trump May Be the Most Emotionally
Persuasive Candidate in the 2016 Presidential Race,” Business insider
(August 5, 2015)
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SHORT ANSWER EXAMINATION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2
Week 5 (October 5-9): Is It Just Emotion That’s Taking Me Over? Partisanship
and Emotional Intelligence
Readings: Westen, Chapters 1-4
*Kathyrn Schulz, “Denial and Acceptance,” in Being Wrong:
Adventures in the Margin of Error
Week 6 (October 12-16): Personality and Political Choice
Readings: McAdams, Introduction and Chapters 1, 2, and 4
Week 7 (October 19-23): Does Personality Matter?
Readings: Slater, Chapters 2 and 3, and 5
MIDTERM EXAMINATION
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23
Week 8 (October 26-30): Bad Decisions by Good People
Readings: Slater, Chapter 4
*Irving Janis, “A Perfect Failure: The Bay of Pigs,” in Groupthink
Week 9 (November 2-6): The New Language of Leadership
Readings: *Molly Ball, “The Agony of Frank Luntz,” The Atlantic (January 6,
2014)
*James Geary, “Freedom Fries and Liberty Cabbage,” in I Is an Other
Westen, Chapter 11
Week 10 (November 9-13): Big Data Creates Small Targets
Readings: *Sasha Issenberg, “Nudge the Vote,” The New York Times Magazine
(October 29, 2010)
*Sasha Issenberg, “Dept. of Experiments,” Politico (February 27, 2014)
INTRODUCTORY SECTION OF PSYCHOBIOGAPHY DUE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13
Week 11 (November 16-20): Shaping the Electorate via Political Advertising:
Readings: *Paul Martin, “Inside the Black Box of Negative Campaign Effects:
Three Reasons Why Negative Campaigns Mobilize,” Political
Psychology (2004)
Week 12 (November 23): Catch-Up
Readings: No Reading
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THANKSGIVING BREAK
Week 13 (November 30-December 4): Partisan Media and Partisan Polarization
Readings: Arceneaux and Johnson, Chapters 1-4
Week 14 (December 7-11): Partisan Media and Opting Out of Citizenship
Readings: Arceneaux and Johnson, Chapters 5-7
PSYCHOBIOGRAPHY DUE (Must Be Submitted by 5:00 PM)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7
FINAL EXAMINATION
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 6:00-9:00 PM, LADD 207
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