{"id":23865,"date":"2018-11-02T15:40:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-02T19:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=23865"},"modified":"2018-11-05T12:25:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T17:25:08","slug":"ucf-class-spotlight-political-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-class-spotlight-political-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Class Spotlight: Political Psychology"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY JENNA MARINA LEE
\n\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Class Name<\/strong><\/p>\n

POS 4206<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 Political Psychology<\/p>\n

Description<\/strong><\/p>\n

The psychological analysis of political behavior, with emphasis on the individual rather than the political system; includes political attitudes and communication, leadership and personality influences on politics.<\/p>\n

When is it offered?<\/strong>\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n

Occasionally.<\/p>\n

How many students are in a class?<\/strong>\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n

Capacity of 50<\/p>\n

Prerequisites<\/strong>\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n

None<\/p>\n

Instructor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gary Smith \u201914MS or Terri Fine<\/p>\n

From the Professor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gary Smith \u201914MS<\/a><\/p>\n

Describe this course in five words or less.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Psychological explanations of political behavior<\/p>\n

How can political psychology be applied to political behavior in American society today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this country right now, it\u2019s not just your traditional partisan disagreement. It feels a lot more emotionally and psychologically visceral in the way we talk about politics. The gap appears to be so wide that you can\u2019t see the other\u2019s perspective at all.<\/p>\n

I think that\u2019s what political psychology helps to do \u2014 it makes you attempt to understand why the other side thinks the way it does. You can\u2019t start dismissing people because they think differently than you. You have to understand how they get there and why they think that way. That\u2019s the most imperative approach, at least at a societal level, to try to close the divide because that\u2019s going to be the first step. Until we fix our societal divides, we\u2019re not going to actually have a Congress that will reflect the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil we fix our societal divides, we\u2019re not going to actually have a Congress that will reflect the same.\u201d \u2014 Gary Smith<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What do you want students to learn?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most basic goal is to understand what the field can contribute to the study of political behavior in general.<\/p>\n

I hope the course makes people critical consumers of information. I want them to be able to break down and process things that are overly simplified in the political universe \u2014 be it a style of debate, a campaign ad or news that they\u2019re getting. The goal is to process these things in a critical way, not just as a passive observer.<\/p>\n

And finally, to make the potentially apathetic person care more. When I was an undergrad, it was a political psychology class that it really solidified my desire to stay in the field and continue on through graduate school. I hope they can be more passionate about politics in general and can think about it in a more diverse way. Humans are diverse and they make politics more complicated because they\u2019re unpredictable.<\/p>\n

What are the coursework requirements?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A midterm, final and a term paper, but the most important of the three is the term paper. It\u2019s called a psycho-biography where students write a biographical explanation of why a certain leader chose a certain policy. Part of that involves trying to diagnose personality characteristics about the leaders in question by looking at some of their early political behaviors and how their childhood\/upbringing shaped them as individuals. For instance, if a senator grew up in a faith-based household, he or she might have a more moralistic view of the world or a more black-and-white view of the world than someone who didn\u2019t grow up in that environment. All things equal, they might make a very different decision on the same policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHumans are diverse and they make politics more complicated because they\u2019re unpredictable.\u201d \u2014 Gary Smith<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the students turn in their rough drafts, I work with them to walk through how they can write a term paper with a really effective critical argument and make something that\u2019s logically cohesive. Hopefully it broadens their view of who the president is or who the senator is in our country or abroad and how they got to be the person that they are in the current time.<\/p>\n

Why are you passionate about this field?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever since I was in fifth grade, I\u2019ve had a passion for politics and I couldn\u2019t tell you why. My parents were apolitical. They couldn\u2019t have cared less about voting. I was going to be a music teacher when I started college, but I think political behavior is fascinating.<\/p>\n

Is it challenging to set aside your own beliefs when you step in the classroom?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I make it very clear, my political viewpoints do not affect grades or affect how I think about the students\u2019 arguments. I work to get students to understand they need to step away from their own partisan echo chambers as much as I do.<\/p>\n

UCF is serving as an\u00a0<\/strong>early-voting site<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and has been recognized as one of\u00a0<\/strong>America\u2019s Best Colleges for Student Voting<\/a><\/strong>. How can a college campus foster civic duty?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Being on a college campus exposes people to differing points of views. It\u2019s at this point in people\u2019s education that they\u2019re being taught about and exposed to the importance of participation. When I was an undergrad, my professors gave extra credit if we registered to vote. I do the same with my students. If there\u2019s some reason they can\u2019t register to vote and they communicate that with me, I\u2019ll give a different assignment, but otherwise, my students get 5 extra points on their final exam if they show me their voter registration card. That\u2019s my attempt to getting people registered, which is always the first step and hardest hurdle to overcome.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for the original post.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY JENNA MARINA LEE Class Name POS 4206\u00a0\u2013 Political Psychology Description The psychological analysis of political behavior, with emphasis on the individual rather than the political system; includes political attitudes and communication, leadership and personality influences on politics. When is it offered?\u2028 Occasionally. How many students are in a class?\u2028 Capacity of 50 Prerequisites\u2028 None […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":23866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[40,17,18,16],"tags":[5016,1394,2720,2783,3293],"class_list":["post-23865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-graduate-student-news","category-ps-ma-highlight","category-ps-phd-highlight","category-political-science-departments","tag-class","tag-gary-smith","tag-politics","tag-psychology","tag-terri-fine"],"yoast_head":"\nUCF Class Spotlight: Political Psychology - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-class-spotlight-political-psychology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCF Class Spotlight: Political Psychology - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY JENNA MARINA LEE Class Name POS 4206\u00a0\u2013 Political Psychology Description The psychological analysis of political behavior, with emphasis on the individual rather than the political system; includes political attitudes and communication, leadership and personality influences on politics. 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