HPS³ - Eric Dickson - Public Knowledge of Political Psychology and Its Consequences

The Hamburg Political Science Seminar Series (HPS³) features international speakers presenting cutting-edge research in empirical political science and political economy.

We welcome on Wednesday, December 17, 2025 - 17:15-18:45 CET in VMP9 B130

Eric Dickson (New York University)

Title: Public Knowledge of Political Psychology and Its Consequences

Abstract: 

Politicians use a variety of psychological techniques to sway voters and win support in elections. For instance, politicians often attempt to instill fear in members of the public, or grossly exaggerate (or willfully minimize) potential threats to society. Political psychology studies the ways in which such campaign techniques can potentially affect voters. Crucially, people are often unaware (or incompletely aware) of their emotional states,the effects their emotions have on their political judgments, or how political actors attempt to manipulate their emotions. Can educating members of the public about ideas from political psychology improve their awareness of these psychological phenomena? Would such awareness have downstream impact on the effectiveness of such manipulative campaigning techniques, and voters' evaluations of politicians who employ them? This talk presents an experimental design and pre-analysis plan exploring these questions. A future goal of the project will be the development of a behavioral game-theoretic model of emotional manipulation in election campaigning that would highlight the distinct mechanisms through which higher public awareness of ideas from political psychology could potentially shape politicians' incentives to use manipulative campaign techniques (or not to) in equilibrium.

The HPS³ seminars take place in person at the UHH. Please find the preliminary program on the HPS³ Website.

We invite everyone interested to attend the HPS Seminar Series and are looking forward to seeing you.