Politics, Sex, and Religion: Not Just Dinner Table Conversation Anymore

Linda M. Woolf & Michael R. Hulsizer

Webster University, Department of Psychology

Hot topics from the world of politics often are raised by students in the classroom. Issues range from the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, "Black Lives Matter," and LGBTQI rights to terrorism, immigration, human rights, and the list continues. By all accounts, the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign was a once in a generation event, which brought out the best and worst in our political system. Students on college campuses across the U.S. were actively involved or conversely feeling disenfranchised by the process. Moreover, the issues of the past election were ones in which many students felt invested including issues of diversity, economics, and international concerns. Certainly, the election, on a seemingly daily basis, highlighted psychological concepts in action from social dominance theory to leadership styles. Issues of sex and gender were particularly salient given the 2016 Presidential campaign featured the country's first female major party Presidential candidate. At the same time, it was difficult to surf social media sites and not see the demonization of large segments of the world simply based on their religious affiliation.

This participant idea exchange focused on ways to integrate world events involving politics, sex, and religion into our courses. We examined what has and hasn't worked, discuss which topics need to be handled with care, and explore the best means to present this material. We particularly focused on how we can approach these topics respectfully and ground our dialogue in the research literature.

  1. How do you talk about politics, sex, and religion in the classroom in a manner that that doesn't alienate or disenfranchise some of your students?
  2. Do you have any innovative activities/projects that you have used in class to teach about politics, sex, and religion?
  3. What problems have you encountered when teaching about these topics?

Teaching Political Psychology

Course Description: Political behavior permeates our relationships, the academy, the workplace, our communities, and our culture. Human beings are not only social beings, we are-for better or worse-also political beings. Political psychology represents the intersection of the fields of political science and psychology. It is interdisciplinary and includes cognitive, affective, group, and socio-cultural aspects of political behavior. As a discipline, political psychology encompasses such disparate topics as voting behavior, competition, propaganda, globalization, media priming, social identity, political attitudes, racism, terrorism, war, and the personality of political leaders. The following questions all address political psychology topics:

  1. Why would someone knowingly join a hate group such as the KKK?
  2. What role does personality play in leadership?
  3. Could the war in Iraq have been avoided?
  4. Why did Hutus begin feverishly murdering their Tutsi neighbors in Rwanda?
  5. What possessed a scandal-ridden President to make the choice to have an illicit affair knowing full well that he was living under constant press scrutiny?
  6. What is the impact of prejudice on people's lives and do we all harbor a measure of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.?
  7. Why did the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 happen?
  8. Why are movements such as "Black Lives Matter" or the efforts for "marriage equality" important?
  9. Why war?

Political psychology focuses on the intersection between psychology, such as personality, organizational, and social psychology, and political behavior to address such questions. The field of political psychology has been strongly influenced by political and psychological theories as well as important political events and social issues. We will discuss many of the important theories that have relevance to political behavior and will apply these theories to important events and issues such as the current elections, war, genocide, and terrorism.

Political Psychology Syllabus

Additional Political Psychology Related Topics Syllabi:

Recommended Edited Textbook Readings in Political Psychology

Huddy, L., Sears, D. O., & Levy, J. S. (2013). The Oxford handbook of political psychology, (2nd ed.). New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press.

Jost, J. T., & Sidanius, J. (2004). Political psychology: Key readings. New York, NY, US: Psychology Press.

Association & Journal

International Society of Political Psychology

Political Psychology

Additional Resources by Woolf & Hulsizer

Woolf, L. M. (2016). Teaching psychology: Infusing human rights. Psychology Teacher Network, 26(1).

Woolf, L. M. (2015, August 4). APA, torture, and context. Psychology Today.

Woolf, L. M. (2015, August 4). End psychology's role in national security interrogations. Psychology Today.

Woolf, L. M. (2015, July 13). Torture, APA, and the Hoffman Report: What now?. Psychology Today.

Woolf, L. M. (2014). Teaching human rights: Teaching LGBTQI rights. International Psychology Bulletin,18 (2-3), 39-43.

Hulsizer, M. R., & Woolf, L. M. (2012). Enhancing the role of international human rights in the psychology curriculum. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 11, 382-387.

Woolf, L. M. & Hulsizer, M. R. (2011). Peace and war. In R. L. Miller, E. Balcetis, S. R. Burns, D. B. Daniel, B. K. Saville, & W. D. Woody (Eds.), Promoting student engagement (Vol. 2, pp. 225-229).

Woolf, L. M. (2008). The Holocaust: Lessons not learned. Peace Psychology, 17(2), 1, 16-20.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2005). Torture? But this is different! Peace Psychology, 14(2), 3-4.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2005). Psychosocial roots of genocide: risk, prevention, and intervention. Journal of Genocide Research, 7, 101-128.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2004). Hate groups for dummies: How to build a successful hate group. Humanity and Society, 28, 40-62.

Munro, G., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2004). Turn Political Mudslinging into Tasty Educational Treats: Incorporating Political Campaigns into Psychology Courses. STP Newsletter, 8-9.

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2004). OTRP Curriculum Resource I: Psychology of Peace and Mass violence -- Genocide, Torture, and Human Rights: Informational Resources (2004)

This 27-page document contains two annotated bibliographies of materials on genocide, torture, and human rights issues written from a psychosocial perspective. The first bibliography includes major journal articles, book chapters, books, and Internet resources on these issues organized by topic. The second bibliography is comprised of reference materials for background information and further study. In addition, there is an annotated list of relevant journals. Available for free download (PDF format)

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2004). OTRP Curriculum Resource II: Psychology of Peace and Mass Violence -- War, Ethnopolitical Conflict, and Terrorism: Informational Resources (2004)

This 30-page document contains an annotated bibliography of materials on war, ethnopolitical conflict, terrorism, and peace issues written from a psychosocial perspective. The bibliography includes major journal articles, book chapters, books, and Internet resources on these issues organized by topic. In addition, there is an annotated list of relevant journals. Available for free download (PDF format)

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2004). OTRP Curriculum Resource III: Psychology of Peace and Mass Violence: Instructional Resources (2004)

This 33-page document consists of resource materials for developing whole courses and lectures on mass violence and peace. For incorporating specific topics into existing courses, lecture suggestions and selected references are given. For developing and revising whole courses, sample syllabi are provided. In addition, lists of relevant videotapes, Internet sites/listservs, and professional organizations are included. Available for free download (PDF format)

Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2002/2003). Intra- and inter- religious hate and violence: A psychosocial model. Journal of Hate Studies, 2, 5-26.

So What Can Go Wrong?

Recommendations from Teaching psychology: Infusing human rights.

In these politically divisive times, most of us have been taught to avoid controversial topics in the classroom. Of course, many human rights topics are often construed as controversial. Although as teachers we value discussion, conversations about human rights should not devolve into uncritical political debate. To avoid criticisms of political bias or potentially explosive classroom situations, we might keep in mind the following recommendations:

  • Stay grounded in research and scholarship. Use the resources provided by U.N., APA, research articles, etc., and when in class, always come back to a critical evaluation of these sources. APA, for example, has a number of policy statements and papers that provide wonderful reference material. Research is your friend when it comes to controversial topics and can help protect you from charges of bias.

  • Draw on history for examples. Current topics may spark great discussions but may also lead to emotional thinking and arguments. As history tends to repeat itself, the past provides plenty of fodder for the psychological analysis of human rights violations. Once students develop skills necessary for analyzing past events, they can use those skills to evaluate current human rights concerns from a more critical perspective.

  • Be a bipartisan analyzer. Most human rights violations take place in a range of contexts and against a range of persons. For example, if you are discussing terrorism--a hot topic about which students want to know more--you can include examples related to hate groups in the United States, kidnappings by Boko Haram, drug cartel violence and other instances of domestic or international terrorism. Moving discussion and analysis away from a single, emotionally charged context might help students come to see the applicability of social psychological concepts to the broader human rights topic.

  • Model respectful dialogue. Establish and model what you expect of your students and the critical thinking skills necessary for evaluating psychological research from a human rights perspective. Fundamentally, it is imperative to know your own perspective and keep your biases out of the classroom.

  • Keep the "powers that be" in the loop. If you are going to be talking about a hot topic, make sure your chairperson, dean, advisor, etc., know what you are doing and why. Generally, if you focus on the research, are respectful, etc., you will not have a problem. Nonetheless, if you have already discussed any potentially challenging topic with your colleagues/supervisor, you can turn to them for support should a problem arise.