). The (social) psychological legacy for political psychology

Political Psychology, 2012

2013

This book provides an introduction to political psychology through a focus on European politics and topics. It describes a style of doing political psychology in Europe that has developed out of dialogue with as well as critique of North American approaches. By emphasising the theoretical and methodological diversity of political psychology, the book is intended to contribute to a greater understanding of the strength and utility of the field. • Opens up and extends the study of political psychology to a variety of socio-political contexts and manifestations of political behaviour • Clearly outlines the usefulness and promises of distinctive critical approaches in social and political psychology • Explicitly considers the role of language, communication, identity and social representations in the construction of political meanings. Political Psychology will appeal to upper-level students and scholars who seek to extend their knowledge of the complex relationship between psychology, politics and society.

Political Psychology 36(3), 2015

Political Psychology has experienced a marked increase in the number of submissions, downloads, citations, and global exposure over the past few years. It is also a more influential journal than it was at the beginning of the decade. Specifically, the journal is now available in more than 4,200 libraries worldwide, compared with 2,200 five years ago; the number of downloads has recently increased to more than 620,000(!), compared with about 100,000 five years ago; the number of new submissions has increased drastically over the past five years to more than 300 per year; and the impact factor has risen to 1.771-the highest in the history of the journal. In 2014 alone, more than 40 articles published in the journal have been downloaded more than 500 times each. In this article, we analyze submissions to Political Psychology, acceptances, downloads, and citations by area of study and methodology.

2018

Life is a social encounter and when people come together as individuals, families, or groups, it soon becomes apparent that everyone has a different idea about how matters should be organized. Some will argue that everyone should do what is best for the majority while others simply want what is best for themselves or those close to them. Others may be less guided by relationships and instead seek the most efficient, systematic, and fair approach to decision-making. As time goes by, other questions come to the fore. Who has access to resources, how much, and how often? Who has the authority to say what can and cannot be done, and what gives a person the right to dictate to others? These questions reflect the political nature of our existence and such questions arise in the home, office, local neighborhood, or, indeed, between peoples and nations. Then there is the question of how we should understand the world and our position within it. For thousands of years, human culture has ventured beyond the material and observable aspects of our existence to explore and embrace supernatural concepts in the form of God, gods, demons, or other unseen forces. Indeed, today, the world is ideologically divided between those who claim that there exists a nonphysical life-world beyond our senses and those who maintain that there is no such world. There are also many who are unable to decide. Given these circumstances, and the additional difficulties created by differences in language, history, and culture, there is huge potential for disagreement and division between individuals, groups, nations, and peoples. We might conclude then that each polity has its own way of looking at the world and its own way of doing things. In psychology, the term "polity" is seldom mentioned, but it is important because it refers to people living under a particular regime (Gr. polıtiteia). Its root gives us two related Greek wordspolıtikos-from which we get politics-actions that proceed from a motive to enact policy, and polıtes-a citizen of a state. When we consider people grouped together, their motives to organize matters, and issues of belonging, the psychological implications become clear. Because we do not live in a political vacuum, every system-whether capitalistic, democratic, theocratic, or totalitarian-affects, influences, and perhaps even determines, the psychological state of the people. Therefore, if we wish to understand people, we need to take a closer look at the social, economic, and political systems that govern their lives. This analysis reflects one of the broader concerns of political

PS: Political Science & Politics, 1998

Political Psychology, 2001

Political Psychology, 2008

The social sciences, as does science more broadly, offer a method for constructing and testing materialist accounts of our world. The accounts we construct stand in sharp contrast to the "natural" accounts, primarily narratives, which enfold us and offer both explanation and justification. 1 Political psychology of course shares the same epistemological foundations. And, we take great comfort in our reliance on the rigors of scientific methods, analyses, the social organization of the discipline that enshrines doubt and collective criticism. 2 As my title announces, I offer an argument about the state of our discipline-what it has attempted, where it is now, and how it ought to go forward. It is my purpose to suggest that a considered inquiry ought to lead us to redirect, and thus enrich, the discipline of political psychology. My argument is that political psychology has been limited by a series of unexamined, indeed often unseen, presumptions and that in our work as scholars we would greatly benefit from a more open vision.

2020

It may be time to think about the co-dependent relationship between psychology and politics in a fresh way. The literature on the relationship between psychology and politics is very extensive, almost overwhelmingly so. Authors coming from the domains of politics and social psychology dominate the ranks of writers in this field, but others more attuned to fields as diverse as neuropsychology, gender studies, history and geography also add their wisdom. Understanding how we can find ourselves in such turmoil, change, and confusion in the twenty-first century, especially in mature democracies, seems important to moving on in the right direction now, but we feel that this understanding is missing. Many of us feel anxious, overwhelmed and a little afraid of what we see in the current political discourse; many of us see citizens' ideas and behavior shaking up the current political environment. Does this political environment influence us, too, over time? Over time do we partially create this political environment? This last question can be extremely important in the study of politics and psychology. The editors of this book, like many other citizens at this historical moment, wanted to understand the forces and outcomes in this current political moment. Even more than understanding, we wanted to help ourselves stay grounded during the rapid changes and heated emotions of our times. Talking with others convinced us that we were not alone in attempting to understand and deal with the rapid-fire political change and drama of our times. It also became clearer that this was not the only time in human history characterized by this degree of political upheaval and the need to somehow process it and move beyond it. What might be our individual roles in creating this political upheaval?

Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science

This article presents a discussion inspired by the invitation formed by Kevin Carriere’s book: “Psychology in Policy – Redefining Politics Through The Individual”. From a theoretical standpoint in culture psychology Carriere challenges the idea of politics as a particular practice carried out by mainly politicians. Instead, he attempts to anchor processes of politics in the everyday lives of individuals, directed at changing their worlds. In this article, we discuss how this ambition could evolve even further by relating it to other theoretical approaches working with similar ambitions.