Current course offerings

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Course description

Why do some disenfranchised groups engage in collective action, while others accept their inferior position? How could an authoritarian leader like Hitler acquire such a massive following? Why do some leaders become regarded as charismatic, while others are dismissed as uninspiring? Why are some people attracted to the political left, while others are drawn to the right? What can policy-makers do to secure lasting attitude- and behaviour change? These, and many other questions, are the province of political psychology, a field that uses qualitative and quantitative methods and psychological theories as tools to help understand political processes. In this advanced-level course, students are familiarized with the most prominent debates in political psychology, as well as with more contemporary perspectives that problematize the many assumptions about human behaviour and motivation underlying these classic perspectives.

Archived offerings