COURSE INFORMATION Course Title: POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
PIR 208	C	4	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	Dr. Jubjana Vila jvila@epoka.edu.al
Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	Dr. Jubjana Vila jvila@epoka.edu.al , Tuesday 10:00-12:00
Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Compulsory
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	D-103, Monday 09:40-12:30
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	75%
Course Description:	“Political psychology, as an interdisciplinary pursuit, applies psychological concepts and methods to test theories about elite and mass political behavior” (Lavine 2002). Political psychologists have gone “inside the mind” of citizens and political elites in an attempt to explain a host of political phenomena from how people interpret political information and make decisions to the role that emotions, identities, and group dynamics play in forming opinions and evaluating political options. In this course, we will use leading work in political psychology to investigate critical issues in American politics. After introducing political psychology’s history, methods and major themes, we will look at the psychological aspects of campaign politics, public opinion, intergroup relations and leadership.
Course Objectives:	The aim of this course is to introduce students to the key concepts, definitions, theories and approaches in political psychology. The main objective is to enable students to understand the psychological factors that rest behind the political behavior of individuals and groups. It aims to encourage the application of theoretical knowledge to case studies in contemporary political psychology. In addition, it aims to enhance critical thinking through discussions on cases, debates and dilemmas in political psychology.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Politics
2	Psychology
3	Political being
4	Personality
5	Cognition
6	Perception
7	Identity
8	Leadership
9	Attitude
10	Behavior

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	What is Political Psychology? Introducing interaction of political and psychological processes. Explaining historical trends in political psychology and main components of political being. Cottam et al (2022), p.11-25
2	Personality and Politics: Theories and Approaches to Studying Personality. Discuss some of the broader theoretical arguments about personality and its effect on political behavior. overview of some of the ways in which personality in politics, and particularly personality factors relevant to political leadership, have been studied. Cottam et al (2022), p. 26-50
3	Cognition, Social Identity, Emotions and Attitudes in Political Psychology. Exploring the thinking and feeling portions of the Political Being’s mind: cognition, emotion, social identity, and attitudes and beliefs. Examine a number of ideas about how people process political information, the psychological techniques and mechanisms used to understand others and the environment in which they live, the importance of the groups to which people belong, and how people regard those groups they do not belong to. Also the importance of emotion in politics, as well as in political attitudes. A number of concepts are introduced, including cognition, cognitive categories and schemas, social identity, images, affect and emotion, and attitudes. Cottam et al (2022), p.52-80
4	Political Psychology of Groups: Nature, Influence, Decision making, Conflicts. Political Beings in their environment, in the presence of, and as a member of, groups. Focus on group dynamics, composition, structure, formation, influence, performance and decision making. Overview of group conflict and conflict resolution. Cottam et al (2022), p.81-115
5	The Study of Political Leaders. Aspects of personality, cognition, and small group behavior brought together to explore political leaders’ management and leadership styles. Explore the types of leaders and a number of analytical frameworks. Cottam et al (2022), p.116-147
6	Political Psychology of Media, Voting and Tolerance. Attitudes and cognition component of the citizen’s mind and the us part of the political environment. Michigan school and Maximalist school of thought on the nature of American political attitudes and sophistication. An introduction to the topic with a look at public opinion and voting in the United States and a brief comparison with Great Britain. Cottam et al (2022), p.148-196
7	Political Psychology of Race. Explain underlying causes of political conflicts produced by racism. Perceptions and behaviors involved in race. Political Being’s personality, attitudes, cognition, emotions, and identities in relation to us (in-groups) and them (out-groups). Cottam et al (2022), p.197-233
8	Midterm Exam
9	Political Psychology of Ethnicity. Perceptions and behaviors involved in ethnicity. Underlying causes of political conflicts produced by ethnocentrism. Ethnic identity, ethnic group and ethnic conflicts. Theories used to look at different aspects of ethnic conflict. Cottam et al (2022), p.234-270
10	Political Psychology of Nationalism. Nationalism, its definition, the patterns of nationalistic behavior, the psychological roots of nationalism, and a description of different kinds of states with varying arrays of nationalists and nationalism. discussion of the political psychological causes of nationalist passions and behavior. Cottam et al (2022), p.270-302
11	Political Psychology of Political Extremism and Terrorism. Psychological concepts and theories to discuss terrorism at the individual and group levels. Address specific personality attributes, such as individual traits, and motivations. Cottam et al (2022), p. 328-365
12	Political Psychology of International Security and Conflict. Use international security and conflict as an example in order to illustrate how political scientists have applied political psychological approaches to better understand such problems as the causes of war, the security dilemma, and deterrence. The portions of the Political Being focused upon in this chapter are cognition, emotion, and perceptions of them. How psychological concepts can be usefully applied to real-world political problems. Cottam et al (2022), p.366-387
13	Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation. Exploring conflict avoidance and resolution strategies. Covers conflict resolution strategies that can be used to reconcile groups that have been engaged in various forms of conflict. Cottam et al (2022), p.388-402
14	Student's Presentations

Prerequisite(s):
Textbook(s):	- Martha L. Cottam, Beth Dietz-Uhler, Elena Mastors, Thomas Preston, and Beth Dietz. Introduction to Political Psychology, 3rd Edition. Routledge Press, 2016. - Weekly assigned case studies
Additional Literature:
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Demonstrate a general understanding of some of the basic concepts in political psychology
2	To understand the psychological factors behind political behaviors of individuals, leaders and groups
3	Discuss the impact of political psychology on international political issues and phenomena
4	To apply theory and analyze political phenomena from a psychological perspective.
5	Critically evaluate and discuss scholarly work in the field of Political Psychology

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES (Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Political Science and International Relations (3 years) Program
1	Having and using advanced knowledge and comprehension supported by textbooks including actual knowledge in political sciences and international relations literature, materials and the other scientific resources.	5
2	Analyzing data, ideas and concepts of current political issues and international relations, determining complex events and topics, making discussions and developing new suggestions in accordance with researches.	5
3	Having knowledge and thought about actual topics and problems together with their historical, social and cultural aspects.	5
4	Introducing those who are interested in politics and international events with the topics of Political Science and IR and teaching clearly the problems and the types of solutions.	5
5	Improving skills of working together with the main social science disciplines and other disciplines which are related to Political Science and International Relations.	5
6	Improving critical thinking and skills in making research independently.	5
7	Developing solutions about the problems and conflicts which are common in national and international arena.	5
8	Improving skills for leadership and research and analyze capacity of those who is responsible with national and international ones.	5
9	Knowing any foreign language enough to communicate with colleagues and understand actual researches and articles.	3
10	Gaining IT skills to use computer and technology) in order to reach actual knowledge.	2
11	Gaining skills to follow societal, scientific and ethic values during collecting, interpreting, conducting of data related to social and political developments.	5
12	Having consciousness about human rights and environment.	5
13	Gaining the skills to follow actual developments and pursue long-life learning.	5

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Project	1	15
Case Study	4	5
Final Exam	1	35
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	13	13
Assignments	6	3	18
Final examination	1	14	14
Other			0
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

To be added at the end of the course