What Is Political Psychology?

A project consultant with the Adaption Institute and a product design manager with Global Payments, Siobahn Hotaling holds a master of arts in psychology from the Harvard University Extension School, and specializes in bias research. One of Siobahn Hotaling’s passionate interests is the psychology of politics, and especially how it relates to the field of bias and social identity theory.

As an interdisciplinary academic field, political psychology stands at the crossroads of the long-established fields of psychology and political science. With roots in the work of American communications theorist and political scientist Harold D Lasswell, modern political psychology rose to prominence between World War I and World War II. Since then, political psychologists have worked within the discipline to study a broad array of topics.

Political psychologists examine political behavior through the lens of both individual and group-oriented psychological processes. They generally focus on studies that use theories and findings from the world of psychology to explain specific political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Since becoming an established academic field, political psychology has contributed to the evolution of related disciplines, such as biopolitics and political neuroscience.