List of Courses

Information
Description
Outcomes
Contents
Methodologies
Assessment
Books

Political Psychology

Course Code :
PSC 311
Level :
Undergraduate
Course Hours :
3.00 Hours
Department :
Department of Political Science

Instructor information :

Area of Study :

This course is interdisciplinary that employs social and cognitive psychological theories and readings in order to understand the dimensions of the world of political practice. It is concerned with the role of human thought, emotion and behavior in politics and the linkages between economics, political science and political mass media. This is done through studying the psychological origins of citizens’ political beliefs and actions from a variety of perspectives. Topics covered include: information processing, inter-group conflict, attribution, tolerance, stereotyping, prejudice, revolting, the strength versus weakness of the state-people political psychology construct as well as political psychology of leaders/heads of states and activists. Course Goals: • Provide an introduction to the study of political psychology, which is intended to broaden the understanding of politics, and leader- politics and people-politics in particular; • Enable a development of analytical, discussion and research skills in the field of political psychology; • Comprehend various psychological schools and how they analyze human political behavior, and point out their validity or lack of; • Draw on both class material and outside knowledge; application and theory.

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

Course outcomes:

a. Knowledge and Understanding:

1-	Define elements and aspects that shape the study of political psychology and its relationship to other disciplines such as social psychology and economic psychology or clinical psychology.
2-	Recognize the difference between major theoretical contributions into the field of political psychology and how to employ them in analyzing reality.
3-	Identify major differences between various cases of analysis such as the political psychology of protesters in different regions or of leaders alike.

b. Intellectual Skills:

1-	Explain using evidence, both empirical and theoretical, chosen situations or moments of analysis.
2-	Combine difference types of references in order to shape an argument or use them for debating purposes.
3-	Outline maps of correlations and intersections between human behaviors at different moments.
4-	Apply interpretive skills gained on examples on both the Egyptian, international and regional levels.

c. Professional and Practical Skills:

1-	Relate theory to practice and identify the gap between them based on different schools of thoughts or case studies tackled in the course.
2-	Employ gained knowledge into a comprehensive research using field researching to test theories and ideas studied.
3-	Illustrate the ability to come up with alternative methods, solutions or alternatives to the ones available at hand.

d. General and Transferable Skills:

1-	Think outside the box in terms of the factors affecting the political psychology of leaders and people.
2-	Allow various texts, ideas and conceptions to inspire new ideas to come about.
3-	Enrich language and jargons related to the field.

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

Course topics and contents:

Topic	No. of hours	Lecture
Introductory Lecture and Course Outline	3	1
Introducing Debates and Prime Analytical Angles	3	1
Husserl, Habermas and co.: Cognition, Heuristics, Biases, Human Behavior and Dissonance in Political Psychology	9	3
Arendt and the Human Condition (Presentations)	3	1
Midterm Exam		1
Media, Polling and Political Psychology of Leaders and the People	6	2
Debate: Personality and Politics, Pain and Political Psychology, Group Behavior	3	1
Reading in class and discussion	6	2
Final Debate and Group Presentations	6	2
Final Exam		1

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

Teaching And Learning Methodologies:

Teaching and learning methods
Demonstration videos
Presentation
Simulations
Debates
Group discussion
Research Paper

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

Course Assessment :

Methods of assessment	Relative weight %	Week No.	Assess What
Course Work (Attendance, Participation, Assignments, Quizzes, Research Paper…)	30.00		To assess understanding, and to assess theoretical background of the intellectual and practical skills.
Final Exam	40.00	15	To assess knowledge and intellectual skills.
Midterm Exam(s)	30.00	7	To assess professional skills.

For further information :

Telephone: 16383 (16FUE)
E-mail: [email protected]

Political Psychology

Books:

Book	Author	Publisher

Recommended books :

Gustav LeBon, Group Psychology, MacMillan, New York, 1898. Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power, Coninuum,New York, 1973. Gustav LeBon, The Psychology of People, MacMillan, New York, 1898.