Chapter 7 - history, politics and social psychology

Question 1

What is political psychology?

Answer 1

border between political science and psychology: addresses the new way in which political institutions both affect and are affected by human behaviour

Question 2

Describe typically political behaviour (4)

Answer 2

People in politics act in a rational pursuit of self-interest, but people:

1) are motivated to act in accordance with their own personality characteristics, values, beliefs, and attachment to groups
2) are imperfect information processors
3) employ often faulty perception of others and are often unaware of the causes of their own behaviour
4) often do things that are seemingly contrary to their own interests, values and beliefs

Question 3

Niccolo Machiavellei (15th century)

Answer 3

• “The prince”: which qualities are necessary for successful political leadership?
• The authors name has become synonymous with leadership style that is cynical, self-serving and often successful

Question 4

Thomas Hobbes (16th century)

Answer 4

• “The Leviathan”: pessimistic view of the life of political man as “nasty and brutal”
• Similar to Freud´s notion in “Civilization and its discontents”, society is seen as imposing much-needed restraint on the individuals sexual and aggressive impulses.

Question 5

John Locke (17th century) - 1

Answer 5

• Rejected the idea that human nature has any fixed characteristics and posited that the individual is born as a tabula rasa onto which training and experience are inscribed.
• Similar to Watson´s behaviourist movement in psychology

Question 6

J.B. Watson

Answer 6

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed…and I´ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select..”

Question 7

John Locke (17th century) - 2

Answer 7

• Rational and collaborative view of society in which human affairs are driven by social contract between the individual and society.
• Reason, moderation, and compromise are the virtues of human relationships –> groundwork for modern, liberal philosophy

Question 8

Jean Jacques Rousseau (18th century)

Answer 8

• Argued against Hobbes, that human nature was essentially good. If man were left to his natural state, he would be able to achieve inner harmony and positive relationships with other human being and with nature. Man´s inherent virtue is compromised through socialization and the demands of society.

Question 9

Karl Marx (19th century)

Answer 9

• Stressed the economic (“material”) foundations of society and politics
• Frankfurter school: Marx´s theories of ideology merged with Freud´s theory of psychoanalysis: Wilhelm Reich, Erich Fromm, Theodor Adorno.

Question 10

Three eras of collaboration between political science and psychology (McGuire)

Answer 10

I. 1940s and 1950s: personality and culture (PS)
II. 1960s and 1970s: attitudes and voting behaviour (AB)
III. 1980s and 1990s: ideology and decision (ID)

Question 11

Personality and culture: 1940s and 1950s

Answer 11

• Background: shadow of World War II
• Goal: to understand the origins of fascism
• Theories: psychoanalysis, stimulus-response behaviorism, Marxism –> explaining political; thoughts, feelings, and actions (of leader and of masses) in terms of environmental (versus hereditary) determinants, often emphasizing childhood experiences

Question 12

Personality and culture: premises

Answer 12

• -> personality: motivations and values, perceptions and stereotypes, cognitive and interpersonal styles, and characteristic modes of coping: as a mediating explanatory variable
• how is it affected by the individuals cultural (early childhood) experiences
• how does it in turn affect the politically significant thoughts, feelings, and actions of the masses and their leaders

Question 13

Result 1: psycho biography or psychohistory (personality and culture)

Answer 13

Qualitative methods, psychoanalytic approach:

• Freud: Leonardo da Vinci (1910)
• Erikson: Martine Luther (1958)
• George and George: Woodrow Wilson (1956)

Analysis of how Woodrow Wilson´s boyhood experiences with a demanding father laid down a personality style that led to his fractious behavior in later authority situations.

Question 14

Result 2: national character (personality and culture)

Answer 14

Benedict: Japanese national character (1946)

• -> from the end of 1960s: epoch personality of successive brief waves of youth cohort´s picturesque labels: “teddy boys”, “skinheads”, “beats”, “flower children”, “baby-boomers”, “yuppies”, “generation X”
• -> original concept of adolescent political generations: Mannheim (1923)

Question 15

Result 3: Adorno authoritarian personality(1950) (personality and culture)

Answer 15

The authoritarian personality syndrome characterized my hostility to out-groups, along with idealization of high-power individuals of the in-group

Question 16

Autocratic leadership model

Answer 16

• Authoritarian leaders provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done.
• There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.
• Abuse of this style is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial. –> more aggression, hostility, scapegoating and discontent.

Question 17

Democratic leadership model

Answer 17

• Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin´s study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality.
• Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative. –> more originality, group-mindedness and friendliness

Question 18

Laissez-Faire leadership model

Answer 18

• Researchers found that children under laissez-faire leadership were the least productive of all groups. The children in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation, and were unable to work independently.
• Laissez-faire leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

Question 19

Attitudes and voting behaviour: 1960s and 1970s - theory (2)

Answer 19

• Rational choice (from the science of economics) people are subjective utility maximizers out to reap benefits and avoid costs through their political activities.
• Reference group consistency: the person maximizes in-group homogeneity and out-group contrast by adopting attitudes and behaviours normative and distinctive to his or her demographic or social groups.

Question 20

Attitudes and voting behaviour: 1960s and 1970s - methodology: survey research

Answer 20

• from 1952 University of Michigan: began collecting survey data on public opinion and voting preferences
• Campbell et al.: The American Voter (1960) - analyses of political socialization, the role of the media in affecting political attitudes
• Conflict studies; 1) soviet-american perception of each other, 2) conflict in vietnam

Question 21

Ideology and decision 1980s and 1990s

Answer 21

Theory: cognitive psychology mechanism of information processing within the individual that had implication for political judgements and decisions –> how information stored in memory and what kind of heuristic are used for retrieval and judgement?
Methodology: experimental social psychology
New theory: evolutionary psychology - social dominance theory