This course examines how psychology informs politics, including how we build political identities, why people engage in political behaviors, and the mutually constitutive relationship between people and institutions. The course will primarily focus on research from social psychology, but we will also look to broader literatures including cognitive and personality psychology, sociology, political science, and international relations. Although much of the research in this field is conducted with a focus on the “global north”, and the United States in particular, in this course we will take a global perspective. We will cover topics such as ideology, political personality, partisanship, attitude change, motivated reasoning, intergroup relationships, conflict, conspiracies, and prejudice/stigma.
Last update: Horáčková Karolína, Mgr. (06.09.2026)
Course completion requirements
Attendance and active participation in class discussion (maximum 2 absences can be excused if you inform the teacher before the beginning of the class via email).
In-class presentation on chosen reading.
Writing an acceptable research paper on a topic related to political psychology. For bachelor’s-level students, the final paper must be 2,000 words excluding the bibliography. For master ’s-level students, the final paper must be 3,000 words excluding the bibliography.
Assessment:
Attendance: 30%
Presentations: 30%
Final Paper: 40%
Last update: Horáčková Karolína, Mgr. (06.09.2026)
Syllabus
1) Introduction
2) Political Identity
Reading: Brewer, M. B. (2001). The many faces of social identity: Implications for political psychology. Political psychology, 22(1), 115-125.
3)Political Ideology, Attitudes, and Beliefs
Reading: Jost, J. T., Nosek, B. A., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Ideology: Its resurgence in social, personality, and political psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(2), 126-136.
4) Intergroup Dynamics and Motivated Reasoning
Reading: Bolsen, T., Druckman, J. N., & Cook, F. L. (2014). The influence of partisan motivated reasoning on public opinion. Political Behavior, 36, 235-262.
5) Values, Morality, and Justice Beliefs
Reading: Jost, J. T., & Kay, A. C. (2010). Social Justice. THE PRAEGER HANDBOOK OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND PSYCHOLOGY, 1.
6) Personality, Political Leaders, and Authoritarianism
Reading: Winter, D. G. (2013). Personality profiles of political elites.
7) Power and Violence
Reading: Jahnke, S., Abad Borger, K., & Beelmann, A. (2022). Predictors of political violence outcomes among young people: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Political Psychology, 43(1), 111-129.
8) Collective Memory and Political Narratives
Reading: Abel, M., Umanath, S., Fairfield, B., Takahashi, M., Roediger III, H. L., & Wertsch, J. V. (2019). Collective memories across 11 nations for World War II: Similarities and differences regarding the most important events. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 8(2), 178-188.
9) Persuasion, Misinformation, and Conspiracies
Reading: Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political psychology, 40, 3-35.
10 Right-Wing Populism
Reading: Chapter 1 - Mudde, C., & Kaltwasser, C. R. (2017). Populism: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press.
11) Current topics: Collective Action and Climate Change
Reading: Fritsche, I., & Masson, T. (2021). Collective climate action: When do people turn into collective environmental agents?. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 114-119.
12) Conclusions
Last update: Horáčková Karolína, Mgr. (06.09.2026)
