Description: In Political Psychology: Neuroscience, Genetics, and Politics, scholar George Marcus provides a cutting-edge introduction that discusses the field's origins, evolution, and possibilities. Offering context that other texts typically omit, this unique volume includes a historical account of the ideas that underpin political psychology--ranging from Ancient Greece, through the Enlightenment, to today--thereby highlighting the deep intellectual roots and continuous vitality of the field. The book also looks at emerging trends in the discipline, integrating an "inside-out" perspective that analyzes how neuroscience, cognitive science, and genetics apply to politics. In addition to opening up new areas of inquiry, this approach gives students new conceptual, theoretical, and methodological tools that they can use to seek out new answers to old questions.
An ideal text for upper-level undergraduate courses in political psychology or as a supplement in political behavior, public opinion, and political communications courses, Political Psychology focuses on teaching the essential skills involved in making credible political psychology explanations: creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Exercises throughout enable students to practice and master these skills and to "learn by doing."Review Quotes: "Political Psychology is the right book at the right time by the right author. It will not only be useful for existing courses, but, at least in my case, also help in the creation of new ones."--Eric Dickson, NYU
"This book seems to be a bridge from the cognitive to the political, which is something that is desperately needed in the field of political psychology."--Ted Brader, University of Michigan