Political Psychology: When the System goes on the couch

Science, being what it is, trades in generalities. Just as there is no science of this recession, there is no science of why I just ate a cookie, or of the workings of John McCain's noble mind. There is, I am sad to say, no Palinology, and thus no general explanation for Sarah Palin, good or bad. However, there exists a well-developed branch of psychology that studies personality, as well as a rich field called industrial and organisational psychology, which I imagine has a good deal to say about personality and management style. If Mr Ambinder so far has not found the science, perhaps he was looking in the wrong place by looking to political science. That said, political psychology is a fascinating and burgeoning area of study within political science. It's even useful. If, for example, you wish to understand what's going on, psychologically speaking, when politicians, bureaucrats, pundits, and your brother-in-law deny that a policy (the stimulus, say) has failed because, really, it almost worked, then you will certainly gain from Philip Tetlock's illuminating work on "Close-Call Counterfactuals and Belief-System Defenses".

Full Story: Journalism and political science