| Psychology - Unit 5 Section 1 Page 5/6 |  |
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| Psychology - Unit 5 Section 1 Page 5/6 | |
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Behavioral
Political Science - The Practice of Political Science Today
| The third and currently
most popular form of political science is Behavioral
Political Science. This approach analyzes political
behavior on the group and sometimes the individual level.
For example, the Political Poll is becoming increasingly
prominent in our society. Exit polls on election days,
for example, actually discourage citizens from voting as
they hear from the media that there is already a
projected winner in certain political races. Polls are
even used as "proof" that a case in point is
true or false. For example, if a large percentage of
people believe that someone is Guilty or Innocent of
criminal charges - this can impact juries. An Example of Behavioral Political Science
Many have decried the
increasing lack of trust in institutions, governmental,
media and even family and church institutions. There is
increasing cynicism that translates into lack of
participation or affiliations in the more radical right
and left wing groups. We need to look at the information,
but we perhaps we should think more about their
implications, the questions that are being asked and the
possibilities for positive action. A
Sample Question of Behavioral Political Science As an alternative question of political science: why not use the broad abilities to collect data and analyze a problem such as the Voting Behavior of the U.S. Congress. Large databases that would include several database tables such as:
What would we discover with a correlation analysis? Would there be a linkage between the necessity of coming from a richer financial and educational background and getting elected to congress? Are votes linked with who the supporters have been? What are the implications of this for assessing congressional elections and possible political reforms? |
During the elections there were . One of the more unusual reportage arenas and
polls were delivered by Hot Wired magazine, an electronic
variation of the alternative computer magazine, Wired.
Hook up to this link to see how they incorporate not only
polls but daily threads into a common fabric. Does the
electronic magazine really represent a new form of
democracy?