The Proseminar in Political Psychology

The Proseminar in Political Psychology is an ongoing weekly meeting of University of Minnesota graduate students and faculty interested in political psychology. The proseminar is used for a variety of activities, including the study of classic and contemporary work in political psychology, training in interdisciplinary research methods, the planning and execution of original research, as well as presentations by graduate students, CSPP faculty, and guest speakers from all over the world. 

Students in the political psychology minor must enroll in the two-credit proseminar for each of two semesters, though many students continue to attend without enrolling thereafter. Each semester, the proseminar is team-led by a pair of core CSPP faculty, drawn from the Department of Politcal Science, the Department of Psychology, and the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication.

Each year, the proseminar organizes itself around a theme. In the lead-up to election years, students and faculty in the proseminar dedicate the time to the planning and execution of multi-investigator election studies.

The 2020-21 Proseminar in Political Psychology

For the fall of 2020, proseminar participants have designed a 3-wave election-year survey that focuses on the 2020 campaign. Multiple student-designed modules appear on each panel wave. The topics covered include social and political identity, the rural-urban split, views of the COVID 19 pandemic, perceptions of income inequality, and opinions about racial and social injustice, among other topics. Once the data are in hand, students will workshop their projects, get feedback from seminar participants, and work on developing manuscripts for publication.

Syllabi for Past Semesters

View the Fall 2019 Proseminar Syllabus

View the Fall 2017 Proseminar Syllabus

View the Spring 2017 Proseminar Syllabus

View the Fall 2016 Proseminar Syllabus

the Spring 2015 Proseminar Syllabus

the Fall 2014 Proseminar Syllabus