What is Political psychology?
The psychology
of Politics
Political psychology is an interdisciplinary academic field
dedicated to understanding politics, politicians and political behaviour from a
psychological perspective. The relationship between politics and psychology is
considered bi-directional, with psychology being used as a lens for
understanding politics and politics being used as a lens for understanding
psychology.
Political psychology aims to understand interdependent
relationships between individuals and contexts that are influenced by beliefs,
motivation, perception, cognition, information processing, learning strategies,
socialization and attitude formation. Political psychological theory and
approaches have been applied in many contexts such as: leadership role;
domestic and foreign policy making; behavior in ethnic violence, war and
genocide; group dynamics and conflict; racist behavior; voting attitudes and
motivation; voting and the role of the media; nationalism; and political
extremism.
Personality
and politics
The study of personality in political psychology focuses on
the effects of leadership personality on decision-making, and the consequences
of mass personality on leadership boundaries. Key personality approaches
utilized in political psychology are psychoanalytic theories, trait-based
theories and motive-based theories.
1. A
psychoanalytical approach: Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) suggested that a
leader's behavior and decision making skill were largely determined by the
interaction in their personality of the id, ego and superego, and their control
of the pleasure principle and reality principle. The psychoanalytic approach
has also been used extensively in psychobiographies of political leaders.
Psychobiographies draw inferences from personal, social and political development,
starting from childhood, to understand behavior patterns that can be
implemented to predict decision-making motives and strategies.
2. A
trait-based approach: Traits are personality characteristics that
show to be stable over time and in different situations, creating
predispositions to perceive and respond in particular ways. Hans Eysenck
(1916-1997) contributed three major traits, currently however Costa and
McCrae’s (1992) “Big Five” personality dimensions are the most recognized.
These include; neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience
and conscientiousness. Theories in political psychology induce that one’s
combination of these traits has implications for leadership style and capacity.
For example individuals who score highly on extroversion are demonstrated as
having superior leadership skills. The Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI) is a
personality assessment scale commonly used in the study of political personality
and for job profiling.
3. A
motive-based approach: In terms of political psychology motivation
is viewed as a goal-orientated behavior driven by a need for three things;
power, affiliation intimacy, and achievement. Winter and Stewart (1977)
suggested that leaders high in power motivation and low in need of affiliation
intimacy motivation make better presidents. Achievement motivation has
demonstrated to not correspond with political success, especially if it is
higher than power motivation. Motivation between a leader and those whom they
are ruling needs to be consistent for success. Motives have been shown to be
correlated more highly with situation and time since last goal-fulfillment,
rather than consistent traits. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is commonly
used for assessing motives. However in the case of leadership assessment this
test is more difficult to implement therefore more applicable tests are often
used such as content analysis of speeches and interviews.
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