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Department Announcements and Achievements

Our department works hard conducting research, teaching classes, and remaining engaged with local and global trends on topics that impact us and shape the future. The Department of Political Science is proud to recognize the achievements of our faculty, graduate students, and staff in service of our mission.

Milton Lodge Receives Political Psychology Career Achievement Award

 

Milt LodgeEmeritus Professor Milton Lodge received the Political Psychology Career Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) this year. This distinguished award is given every two years, celebrating a scholar whose lifelong commitment and contributions to the profession has left a mark on the field of political psychology. 

Emeritus Professor Lodge was selected for this prestigious award for his book, “The Rationalizing Voter,” co-authored with Charles Tabler and published 2013, as well as the theory of motivated reasoning. The book delves into the subtle influences that often go unnoticed and shape political behavior. This theory is assessed through various components, including the examination of cognition, automaticity, affect transfer, affect contagion, and motivated reasoning. It highlights how conscious thought is a way to rationalize emotions and feelings that are automatically triggered. 

The theory of motivated reasoning revolves around three hypotheses: the primacy of affect, the automaticity of affect, and the affective contagion effect. The primacy of affect indicates that emotions come before our conscious reasoning when forming judgments. The automaticity of affect suggests that emotional responses can be triggered automatically without conscious thinking. The affective contagion effect demonstrates how our surroundings can shape political emotions and decisions.

In his ongoing research, Emeritus Professor Lodge focuses on a dual-process model for political beliefs, emphasizing the relationship between automatic subconscious processes and deliberate cognitive elements.

10/20/23


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2023-2024

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