Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Political Psychology: An Introduction / John T. Jost & James Sidanius -- Pt. 1. Historical Introduction -- Reading 1. The poly-psy relationship: Three phases of a long affair / William J. McGuire -- Pt. 2. Personality and Politics -- A. Authoritarianism and mass psychology -- Reading 2. The authoritarian personality and the organization of attitudes / Roger Brown -- Reading 3. Threat and authoritarianism in the United States: 1978-1987 / Richard M. Doty, Bill E. Peterson, and David G. Winter -- Reading 4. The other "authoritarian personality" / Bob Altemeyer -- B. Political elites and leadership -- Reading 5. Can personality and politics be studied systematically? / Fred I. Greenstein -- Reading 6. Leader appeal, leader performance, and the motive profiles of leaders and followers: A study of American presidents and elections / David G. Winter -- Pt. 3. Mass Media and Candidate Perception -- Reading 7. Experimental demonstrations of the "not-so-minimal" consequences of television news
programs / Shanto Iyengar, Mark D. Peters, and Donald R. Kinder -- Reading 8 Altering the foundations of support for the president through priming / Jon A. Krosnick and Donald R. Kinder -- Reading 9. Anxiety, enthusiasm, and the vote: The emotional underpinnings of learning and involvement during presidential campaigns / George E. Marcus and Michael B. MacKuen -- Pt. 4. Ideology and Public Opinion -- A. Does ideology exist? -- Reading 10. The nature of belief systems in mass publics / Philip E. Converse -- Reading 11. The origins and meaning of liberal-conservative self-identification / Pamela Johnston Conover and Stanley Feldman -- B. Cognitive style and ideological functioning -- Reading 12. The fear of equality / Robert E. Lane -- Reading 13. Cognitive style and political belief systems in the British House of Commons / Philip E. Tetlock -- Pt. 5. Challenges of Decision-Making -- Reading 14. Contrasting rational and psychological analyses of political choice / George A. Quattrone and Amos Tversky -- Reading 15. The drunkard's search / Robert Jervis -- Pt. 6. Prejudice, Diversity, and Social Contact -- A. Theories of intergroup relations in society -- Reading 16. The social identity theory of intergroup behavior / Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner -- Reading 17. The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness / John T. Jost and Mahzarin R. Banaji -- Reading 18. Social dominance theory: A new synthesis / James Sidanius and Felicia Pratto -- B. The enduring problem of racism -- Reading 19. Group conflict, prejudice and the paradox of contemporary racial attitudes / Lawrence Bobo -- Reading 20. Is it really racism? The origins of white Americans' opposition to race-targeted policies / David O. Sears, Colette van Laar, Mary Carrillo, and Rick Kosterman -- Pt. 7. Conflict, Violence, and Political Transformation -- A. The social psychology of wrongdoing and harm -- Reading 21. Social organization for the production of evil / John M. Darley -- Reading 22. The psychology of political terrorism / Martha Crenshaw -- B. Protest and revolution -- Reading 23. Theoretical approaches to explaining collective political violence / Harry Eckstein -- Reading 24. Politicized collective identity / Bernd Simon and Bert Klandermans -- Appendix. How to read a journal article in social psychology / Christian H. Jordan and Mark P. Zanna.

Political psychology is a dynamic subfield at the intersection of psychology and political science. The specific relationship between politics and social psychology has been steadily evolving in recent years, making it a compelling and exciting area of study. The chapters in this reader were written by leading scholars in the areas of political science and social psychology. Both contemporary and classic articles are compiled, demonstrating the ever-changing nature of political psychology and offering comprehensive coverage of social psychological research into the processes that have governed local and global affairs in the postmodern world. Topics covered include authoritarianism, political leadership, public opinion, decision-making, prejudice, intergroup relations, terrorism, and revolution.