Summary for the course political psychology. It is a summary of all the 14 lectures. This
summary consists of a lot of visual substantiation for a better understanding of the
material for the course. Good luck with the Exam!
Lecture 1 – political psy – 19/01/2015
Polarization has gone up and moderate
democrats and republicans has gone
down.
Godwin’s law on reddit; when there are
more posts there is a bigger chance that
someone refers to hitler.
Hobbes’ leviathan – the first political text.
The eye interprets information and forms
that there are inhabitants and a village,
and a government and how it should
function.
The leviathan – plaatje van een person- is
supposed to be the state, build up from
little people. Those people are giving
their power to the king/queen/ state. The
leviathan also has a sword – which stands
for that the state is protecting their
people.
We often research those people and not
only the government. We study the influence of the government on the people.
Machiavelli: ‘upon this a question arises whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared
than loved?’ – it depends. There is a interaction, sometimes it is better to be loved than feared
– but people can take adventage of you and walk all over you. On the other hand there are
times when it is better to be feared than loved – as soon as the fear goes away they don’t have
respect anymore. This is a big concern of big leaders all over the world. You want people to
follow you.
Machiavelli was one of the first political scientists.
How people relate to one another and also to their state.
Machiavelli = rudeless
Governments want people to respect them (because people get along with them) but they
don’t want to have a force between their different laws and rules.
1
, The timeline above is about political psychology.
1922: public opinion, the word stereotype was used for the first time.
World war 2 – how it came to be that these different countries came to the conclusion that
taking over parts of the world was the good thing to do.
Personality & culture era
Why political beliefs:
Genetic dispositions influence your political beliefs – it is a complicated relationship but it is
there.
Some people adopt the beliefs of politicians they like – study in the US, give liberals a very
restrictive welfare policy, in the US liberals don’t like those policies, and you say this policy
is supported by the democrats. Than the participants support the policy. They support it
because their party supports it.
You also learn from your parents because of social learning.
Political personality is formed by socialization. People have experiences (maybe from their
parents, maybe from other people) .
Adorno et al. (1950)- Authoritarian – Fscale (F stands for facist)
Oedipal situation – you have this particular restrictive upbringing, typically it is the fault of
you parents (they are authoritarian). This leads to the fact that you become authoritarian in
your life. Also in politics.
Oedipal comples = when you grow older you have to come over your sexual attraction to your
parent of the opposite sex. If you don’t come over this attraction you will choose a partner
that is similar to your parent.
So external situations (upbringing) > changes in your personality > political voorkeuren
Germans/Japanese world war 2 very authoritarian. But now they are not uniquely
authoritarian.
2
summary consists of a lot of visual substantiation for a better understanding of the
material for the course. Good luck with the Exam!
Lecture 1 – political psy – 19/01/2015
Polarization has gone up and moderate
democrats and republicans has gone
down.
Godwin’s law on reddit; when there are
more posts there is a bigger chance that
someone refers to hitler.
Hobbes’ leviathan – the first political text.
The eye interprets information and forms
that there are inhabitants and a village,
and a government and how it should
function.
The leviathan – plaatje van een person- is
supposed to be the state, build up from
little people. Those people are giving
their power to the king/queen/ state. The
leviathan also has a sword – which stands
for that the state is protecting their
people.
We often research those people and not
only the government. We study the influence of the government on the people.
Machiavelli: ‘upon this a question arises whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared
than loved?’ – it depends. There is a interaction, sometimes it is better to be loved than feared
– but people can take adventage of you and walk all over you. On the other hand there are
times when it is better to be feared than loved – as soon as the fear goes away they don’t have
respect anymore. This is a big concern of big leaders all over the world. You want people to
follow you.
Machiavelli was one of the first political scientists.
How people relate to one another and also to their state.
Machiavelli = rudeless
Governments want people to respect them (because people get along with them) but they
don’t want to have a force between their different laws and rules.
1
, The timeline above is about political psychology.
1922: public opinion, the word stereotype was used for the first time.
World war 2 – how it came to be that these different countries came to the conclusion that
taking over parts of the world was the good thing to do.
Personality & culture era
Why political beliefs:
Genetic dispositions influence your political beliefs – it is a complicated relationship but it is
there.
Some people adopt the beliefs of politicians they like – study in the US, give liberals a very
restrictive welfare policy, in the US liberals don’t like those policies, and you say this policy
is supported by the democrats. Than the participants support the policy. They support it
because their party supports it.
You also learn from your parents because of social learning.
Political personality is formed by socialization. People have experiences (maybe from their
parents, maybe from other people) .
Adorno et al. (1950)- Authoritarian – Fscale (F stands for facist)
Oedipal situation – you have this particular restrictive upbringing, typically it is the fault of
you parents (they are authoritarian). This leads to the fact that you become authoritarian in
your life. Also in politics.
Oedipal comples = when you grow older you have to come over your sexual attraction to your
parent of the opposite sex. If you don’t come over this attraction you will choose a partner
that is similar to your parent.
So external situations (upbringing) > changes in your personality > political voorkeuren
Germans/Japanese world war 2 very authoritarian. But now they are not uniquely
authoritarian.
2
