Political Psychology

Political Psychology is a multi-disciplinary group established to provide a forum for collaboration, discussion and support for political psychology scholars and practitioners as well as to facilitate the dissemination of political psychology research to relevant political and social institutions and the broader public. We work closely with colleagues in Psychology, via a sister section of the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Follow us on BlueSky: @psapolpsychology.bsky.social

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Political psychology research seminars

If you would like to present your research at one of our autumn 2025 seminars, please contact Ben Seyd or Matthew Barnfield.

Previous seminars (available to view on our YouTube channel)

4 June 2025
Ideological extremism and polarization on a global scale
Francesco Rigoli (City University)

14 May 2025
Is higher education a new political cleavage in British politics?
Ralph Scott (Bristol)

30 April 2025
Much Ado About Nothing? A Longitudinal Investigation of the Consequences of Affective Polarization
Joseph Phillips (Cardiff)

16 April 2025
“Where's my parade?” Adulthood, excitement and the anti-climax of the first-time vote across six countries
Sandra Obradovic (Open University)

2 April 2025
Stressful Politics? The Effects of Politics as a Stress Factor for Mental Health in Adults and Young People in Polarised Democracies, Who is More Affected, How They Work, and How to Alleviate Them
Luca Bernardi (Liverpool)

19 March 2025
Expressing Emotions Through Images: Modes of Affect in Citizens’ Political Discourse on Social Media
Catherine Bouko (Ghent)

20 May 2024 (Rachel Gibson, Manchester)
Personalisation versus privacy concerns as determinants of attitudes toward political micro-targeting in the US, Germany and France? Testing the 'privacy calculus’ in comparative electoral context

30 Nov 2023 (George Melios, LSE)
Origin of (A)symmetry: The Evolution of Out-Party Distrust in the United States

19 Sept 2023 (Katharina Lawall, University of London)
Angry losers? The effects of feeling electoral loss on anti-democratic attitudes

6 June 2023 (Matthew Barnfield and Rob Johns, Essex)
'Hope, Optimism and Expectations in Politics'