In this course we will examine how to apply psychological theories and methods to understand the lives of political leaders. We begin this course with a consideration the role of personality in political leadership. We then examine psychological theories that can be fruitfully applied to the study of individual lives (e.g., Freud) and psychological methods that are useful in analyzing case material (e.g., Linguistic Inquiry Word Count). Over the course of the semester, we will evaluate existing psychobiographies of important figures and students will conduct their own psychobiographical analyses of figures of their choice.
Requisite: PSYC 220, 221, or permission of the instructor. Limited to 15 students. Fall semester. Professor Demorest.
If Overenrolled: Priority given to Psychology majors by seniority and to those who pre-register.