Thinking about Political Psychology

Some of the leading scholars in political psychology discuss and debate some of the major issues in the field. Scholars define the boundaries of the field, debate its relevance, consider whether the field is, methodologically, too individualistic and consider whether the field can help scholars to understand collective public opinion.

• Will appeal to leading scholars in the field • Self-critique of major issues facing the fields • Applies a broad overview of the field

Introduction James H. Kuklinski; Part I. Defining Political Psychology: 1. The contours of political psychology: situating research on political information processing John L. Sullivan, Wendy M. Rahn and Thomas Rudolph; Part II. Theory and Research: 2. Who can persuade whom? Implications from the nexus of psychology and rational choice theory Arthur Lupia; 3. Expanding the envelope: citizenship, contextual methodologies, and comparative political psychology Pamela Johnston Conover and Donald D. Searing; 4. The challenges of political psychology: lessons to be learned from research on attitude perception Jon A. Krosnick; Part III. The Psychology-Political Nexus: 5. Political psychology and political science John L. Sullivan, Wendy M. Rahn and Thomas Rudolph; 6. Is political psychology sufficiently psychological? Distinguishing political psychology from psychological political science Jon A. Krosnick; 7. Political psychology, political behavior, and politics: questions of aggregation, causal distance, and taste Robert C. Luskin; Part IV. Political Psychology and Aggregate Opinion: 8. The micro foundations of mood James A. Stimson; 9. From denial to extenuation (and finally beyond): political sophistication and citizen performance Robert C. Luskin; 10. Political psychology and the micro-macro gap in politics.

‘Thinking about Political Psychology breaks new ground by assessing the challenges and debates within the current practice of political psychology’ Acta Politica