A field of study that applies what is known about human psychology to the study of politics is called political psychology. The authors investigate the ways in which individuals arrive at political decisions about issues such as voting, party identification, and political attitudes, as well as the ways in which political leaders arbitrate political disagreements and make judgments regarding foreign policy. The editors of this revised third edition of The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, Leonie Huddy, David O. Sears, Jack S. Levy, and Jennifer Jerit, have assembled a group of eminent academics from all over the world in order to present an up-to-date assessment of the most important issues and areas of research in the field.

The authors of the chapters draw on research and theory from the fields of biopsychology, neuroscience, personality, psychopathology, evolutionary psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and intergroup interactions. There are chapters that discuss the political psychology of political elites, and there are other chapters that deal with the dynamics of the political behavior of the general public. This fully interdisciplinary volume covers models of the mass public and political elites, and it addresses both domestic issues and foreign policy. It begins by concentrating on political psychology at the individual level (attitudes, values, decision-making, ideology, personality), and then it moves on to the collective level (group identity, mass mobilization, political violence).

With newly added chapters on authoritarianism, nationalism, status hierarchies, minority political identities, and a variety of other topics, as well as material that has been substantially updated to take into account the most recent cutting-edge research in both psychology and political science, this book is an indispensable reference for academics and students who are interested in the intersection of the two fields.