What is Political Psychology?

Political psychology is one of those areas of psychology that, having no object of study as well defined as other branches of this, it seems to be blurred in the ambiguity of the sciences social. However, that does not mean that it is not relevant.

In fact, thanks to his joint work with fields of knowledge such as sociology and anthropology, he is able to better understand what is happening in an increasingly globalized world, with ever-widening conflicts and, ultimately, social.

Next we will see what are the functions, characteristics and main problems of political psychology.

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Political Psychology: A Definition

Political psychology is a difficult concept to define, and the diffuseness of its limits and characteristics structural systems has meant that for years this denomination has been used to refer to different things.

However, a definition as specific as it is complete is the one made by Luis A. Oblitas and Ángel Rodríguez Krauth (1999): political psychology is the part of psychology that deals with

analyze phenomena of a political nature from their psychological aspects: the perception of corruption, the political discourse of parties, social movements and pressure groups, identification with reference groups or leaders, etc.

But a simple definition is not enough to understand what are the distinctive characteristics of this branch of psychology. First, its relationship with historical processes and with social psychology must be taken into account.

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The importance of historical processes

Some people have a conception of what psychology is that relates it more to biology than to the social sciences. From this point of view, this would be a science that is responsible for studying neural structures that being inside our body they emit behaviors, in the same way that a gland produces saliva.

While it is true that psychology is not strictly a social science in its entirety, the previous view of the profession of psychologists is wrong. This is so because psychology is the study of behavior, and as far as human beings are concerned, human behavior is never born spontaneously inside bodies, rather, it is always modulated by the historical context in which people live. The same person is very different depending on where and when he is born. For example, what is considered today misogynistic behavior it could be considered normal as little as a century ago.

Ultimately, our way of being is not separated from the flow of events that occur around us, and a good part of these are of a social and political nature.

On the other hand, the actions we take also contribute to changing the context in which we live. As a consequence, the object of study of political psychology, and of social psychology, is constantly changing. This makes their approach to what happens cannot be the same as that of the exact sciences, which analyze phenomena whose components are more or less invariable, and which must use a probabilistic approach when investigating. In turn, this fact brings political psychology closer to other disciplines that study social phenomena, such as anthropology and sociology.

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Political Psychology or Political Psychology?

Keep in mind that people who are engaged in political psychology are very sensitive to the way in which political phenomena influence our way of thinking. Of course, studying in today's Spain the interaction processes between politically mobilized ethnic groups is not the same as doing it in Hitler's Germany. Science is also a human and social activity, and therefore it is not totally isolated from these influences.

Consequently, one of the objectives of political psychology is also to analyze the way in which political processes, throughout history or in the present, contribute to certain models of human behavior gaining strength to the detriment of others, who lose support for.

In short, political psychology always try to direct efforts towards self-criticism about the presuppositions from which he starts, the epistemological approach that you use when reaching conclusions, and the effects that placing more emphasis on some study topics than on others can have at all times.

Its forms of application: examples

It may seem that political psychology is content to understand certain social phenomena reaching abstract and undaunted conclusions, since it works from concepts very difficult to study, as they are always changing and have little concrete limits (where does humor end and chauvinism begin in certain propaganda initiatives, for example?). However, this does not have to be like this.

Political psychology can be used, for example, to make predictions about the future movements that mobilized collectives will carry out, or to measure the degree of racism and xenophobia that appear in certain discourses of parties and groups (the consequences of this have been clear throughout history).

At the same time, it also serves to know what are the probabilities of a regressive movement appearing in a generally progressive country, or vice versa, a progressive movement in one anchored in the religious fundamentalism and nationalist essentialisms.

In short, political psychology, while far from being infallible, serves to reach very important, since they tell us about phenomena that have the capacity to affect thousands or millions of people.

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Bibliographic references:

• Oblitas, L. and Rodríguez Kauth, A (1999): Political Psychology. Mexico D. F.: Plaza and Valdés.