Political Psychology and Experimentation

Political psychology has much to say about, for example, the role of emotion in shaping political attitudes and behaviours, intergroup conflict, and individual and group decision-making. This chapter defines what is meant by the term ‘political psychology’ and then traces the roots of political psychology in Australia, concentrating on the contributions of A. F. Davies and Graham Little. This chapter also highlights developments in political psychology, the most notable of which has been the rise in the use of experiments in the last few decades. The chapter concludes by outlining the growing field of behavioural insights—which draws heavily on political psychology—that has been taken up by government and other public organizations, and by pointing to the strengths and deficits in Australian political psychology.