Democracy for humans: how political psychology can help us shape a sustainable democratic culture

Aims

This course aims to:

• provide a contemporary and empirical overview of the challenges of modern democracies, from falling levels of political trust to rising levels of polarization
• provide insights into the facets of human psychology that make politics, and in particular democracy so challenging
• stimulate ideas and discussions for how a wider understanding of human nature could provide lessons for how we could do democracy better

Course content

The political volatility of the modern world has shaken our faith in Democracy. Does this mean Humans are too tribal or short sighted for Democracy to flourish? Does modern psychology – with its lessons on unconscious bias - teach us that Plato was right after all, and that humans are too easily biased or fooled to be trusted with their own self-governance. 

In this lecture series, I will argue whilst modern psychology does help us understand our biases, it also shows us how we could be doing democracy better. Central to this is a recognition that collective human decision making depends upon culture, and that whilst many countries around the world have embraced democracy, we have not really thought through the cultural practices, institutions, educational rites of passage needed to allow democracy to flourish. 

The threats posed by climate change, inequality, global conflict, and the modern information crisis call into question whether Democracy will survive, let alone flourish. This threat is real, Democratic backsliding has occurred in the past, and by many metrics is also occurring now. If we are to reverse that trend, I think our response has to be grounded in a scientific and realistic understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of human cognition.

One of those weaknesses is our propensity for binary thinking: we either have something or we don’t. Democracy is however not just one thing, and the creation of a Democratic culture could mean so much more for how we relate to each other, how we raise our children, and how we create the kinds of discussions and institutions to ensure we learn from the wisdom of the crowd rather than suffer the rule of the (now social media fuelled) mob. This course will explore how insights from modern psychology could help shape what a positive democratic culture could look like.

What to expect on this course

This course will be built around 5 lectures, that explore evidence and research from modern psychology and cognitive science, and invite creative discussion around what that might mean for how we could do democracy better. I plan to explain some of the science behind modern psychology, in simple terms that would be accessible to people without a background in science or psychology. I will then explore what these findings might mean for how we could do democracy better. I will offer concrete examples of what these lessons might be, but also use this to facilitate a wider discussion, and will aim to create a dialogue with the audience on the themes of the lectures as they progress. Please note that if you are undertaking an assignment that these will be marked by one of Dr de-Wit’s PhD students.

Course sessions

1. Moral Development and Democratic Culture: In this first lecture, I will outline research on the psychology of moral development across cultures, and explore why I think that means that Democratic Culture (and not just civics lessons) need to start in School

    

2. Need for Control and Local Governance: In this lecture I will explore how our “need for control” is central to our wellbeing, and why that means Democratic decisions need to be made as locally as possible.

    

3. Coalitional vs Tribal Psychology: We often think of ourselves as inherently “tribal”, and that this is a negative feature of our psychology. In this third lecture, I will argue our “coalitional psychology” is inherent to us as a species, but is actually more sophisticated than we often think, and that this means we have to seriously engage with what positive (political or national) group identities might look like

    

4. Rational models belief updating: In the final focused topic, I will explore the factors that shape when and why we update our beliefs. In particular I will focus on rational (but source based) models of belief updating and what these mean for why we need to develop much stronger regulations about the independence of our media. 

    

5. Can Democracy use the Wisdom of the Crowd: Finally, I will integrate the lessons from the previous 4 classes to reflect more broadly about how our intuitions about human nature (are we inherently good, evil, irrational or tribal), shapes a wider narrative about what we think is possible though different forms of democratic decision making.

Learning outcomes

As a result of the course, you will gain a greater understanding of the subject and you should be able to:

• understand empirical trends in political polarization and political trust across different countries
• understand some of the cognitive and social processes that impact the formation of political beliefs, and electoral decision making
• apply ideas from modern psychological research to think about how we could do democracy better, from the way in which we teach children in school, to the way in which we regulate our media

Required reading

Madsen, J K, de-Wit, L, Ayton, P, Brick, C, de-Moliere, L, and Groom, C J, Behavioural science should start by assuming people are reasonable. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 28(7), 583-585 (2024) Behavioural science should start by assuming people are reasonable