Political Psychology

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. Political Psychology: Situations, Individuals, and
Cases 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