Skip Navigation
Search
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Political Science

The program you need for the career you want

The Political Psychology Graduate program at Stony Brook combines a rigorous instruction in the psychological foundations of political behavior with in-depth analysis of specific political issues and hands-on research.


The program's core courses develop skills in political psychology, quantitative methods, and behavioral analysis, emphasizing practical applications to real-world political phenomena. Building on this foundation, students finish by completing a capstone project under the supervision of one of our research faculty.


The program takes one calendar year to complete (fall, spring, and summer semesters).

For program guidance, please don't hesitate to email us at polscimaadmissions@stonybrook.edu

Take Your Next Step


Start Your Graduate Application 

 

 Admissions Information

 

Political Psychology Degree Requirements

30 Credits | 9 Courses

5

Core Courses

Learn the foundations of political psychology, including courses on politics and identity, culture and public opinion, moral politics, and economics and politics.

3

Methods Courses

Learn how political scientists and psychologists collect and analyze data, hard skills that will help you in many careers.

1

Capstone Experience

Complete a capstone project, a master’s thesis, under the guidance of one of our research faculty.

Our Program

The majority of your courses will be taught by our full-time research faculty. 

Below you can find a brief example of our curriculum, followed by short biographies of our faculty and information about their classes.

What does the program cost?

Tuition and fees at Stony Brook, set by the State University of New York, are considerably below those of comparable programs on Long Island and throughout the greater New York metropolitan area. Please visit the Student Financial Services page for a current listing of tuition and fees.

To apply for need-based aid, including student loans, students should complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Financial aid may be available for those who qualify.

How long does the program take?

Our full-time program takes only ONE calendar year.

We want to get you onto the next phase of your life as quickly as possible. Thus, we keep the program brief but rigorous. 

The program is full-time and in-person during the academic fall and spring semesters and involves a capstone project during the summer. 

For students planning to go on to doctoral studies, we recommend doing a master’s thesis that involves original data analysis. For all other students, we recommend doing an in-depth literature review as the capstone.

An Example of Our Curriculum

  • Fall Semester
    Introductory Statistics (POL 501)

    This course acquaints students with statistics. It begins with the basics of applied statistical analysis, including probability and hypothesis testing, and builds to simple regression analysis. 

    Research Methods (POL 504)

    This course will cover a variety of research methods that can be used to study attitudes and opinions: Experimental methods (in laboratory and field settings), quasi-experimental designs, surveys and questionnaires, and methods for studying various psychological characteristics of attitudes such as reaction time and lexical decision tasks

    Passionate Politics: Mobilization, Interest Groups and Social Movements (POL 562)

    This course explores the factors driving political mobilization, such as group identities, emotions, and values, and examines their impact on elections and public policy in American politics. It covers citizen engagement examples, the psychology of group membership, and polarized partisan politics, applying these insights to contemporary U.S. political dynamics.

    Behavioral Economics and Public Policy (POL 521)

    People often behave in ways that deviate from classical economic theories. This course helps students learn about these deviations and to construct public policies around such empirical regularities.

  • Spring Semester
    Intermediate Statistics (POL 502)

    This course utilizes multiple regression analysis and explores violations of the linear model. 

    Dynamics of Public Opinion (POL 561)

    This course provides an overview of the psychology of public opinion. We will look at several questions, including: How much do people know about politics? How does this knowledge inform their opinions? What is the psychological nature of political ideology? How does public opinion relate to government policy and larger social trends?

    Moral Politics (POL 571)

    This course explores how moral psychology shapes public opinion, political behavior, and debates on issues like fairness, sexuality, and violence. It examines the influence of moral judgment, emotions, and framing in contrast to self-interest, altruism, and non-moral considerations.

    Culture, Values, and Public Opinion (POL 567)

    This course examines the evolution of politics and values across advanced industrialized countries, focusing on how socio-economic cleavages, cultural shifts, identity politics, and security concerns shape political behavior and public opinion. It integrates individual, group, and institutional analyses using cross-national and longitudinal data to explore changes in political space and the dynamics of contentious politics.

  • Summer Semester
    Master's Thesis (POL 568)

    This course entails a student thesis project under supervision of a faculty member on a research project related to political psychology

 

 

Our Faculty and Classes

 Please note: Faculty and classes might change depending on department needs.

    Stephanie DeMora

    Stephanie DeMora

    Stephanie DeMora Teaches about Passionate Politics

    POL 562: Passionate Politics: Mobilization, Interest Groups, and Social Movements

    Dr. DeMora is an Assistant Professor. She studies political engagement and underrepresented groups. For more on Dr. DeMora and her research, go here. Here’s what Dr. DeMora had to say about her course:



    “In my Passionate Politics course, we’ll see how people’s social identities – their attachments to important groups in their lives – mobilize them to vote and be politically active. We’ll also look at the role of emotions like anger and anxiety in our political lives.”

    Peter DeScioli

    Peter DeScioli

    Peter DeScioli teaches about Moral Politics

    POL 571: Moral Politics

    Dr. DeScioli is an Associate Professor. He studies how our moral minds lead us to create laws and politics. For more on Dr. DeScioli and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. DeScioli had to say about his course:



    “In my Moral Politics course, we’ll see how moral outrage can make citizens and legislators refuse to compromise. Our moral convictions can grind negotiations to a halt, leaving everyone worse off.”

    Andrew Engelhardt

    Andrew Engelhardt

    Andrew Engelhardt teaches about the Dynamics of Public Opinion

    POL 561: Dynamics of Public Opinion

    Dr. Engelhardt is an Assistant Professor. He studies inclusion and group-based inequality in multi-racial democracies. For more on Dr. Engelhardt and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Engelhardt had to say about his course:



    “In my Public Opinion course, we'll explore how people form beliefs and attitudes about the political world around them, and how this can lead to a strong democracy or the type of widespread polarization we see in the U.S. today.”

    Gallya Lahav

    Gallya Lahav

    Gallya Lahav teaches about Culture and Values

    POL 567: Culture, Values, and Public Opinion

    Dr. Lahav is a Professor in our department. She studies migration and integration in democracies. For more on Dr. Lahav and her research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Lahav had to say about her course:



    “In my course on Culture, Values, and Public Opinion, we’ll see how democracies are affected by and react to culture, ideology, socio-economic cleavages, identity, and xenophobia. We’ll also go in depth with important, world-wide surveys such as the World Values Survey.”

    Reuben Kline

    Reuben Kline

    Reuben Kline teaches about Behavioral Economics

    POL 521: Behavioral Economics & Public Policy

    Dr. Kline is an Associate Professor. His research uses insights from economics to make sense of politics, including topics like artificial intelligence and climate change. For more on Dr. Kline and his research, go here. Here’s what Dr. Kline had to say about his course:



    “In my course on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy, we will see how policymakers can use our understanding of human psychology to design and implement better public policies. We’ll also learn the latest techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of a policy.”

    Andrew Delton

    Andrew Delton

    Andrew Delton teaches about Research Methods

    POL 504: Research Design

    Dr. Delton is the director of the MA in Political Psychology and an Associate Professor. He studies rationality and emotions in politics, including their role in the politics of climate change and social welfare. For more on Dr. Delton and his research, go here. In addition to running the MA program, Dr. Delton also teaches in it. Here’s what he had to say about his course:



    “In my Research Design course, we’ll learn about the techniques that political scientists use to understand the world, including how to design surveys and experiments.”

    Pazit Ben-Nun

    Pazit Ben-Nun

    Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom teaches Statistics

    POL 501: Introductory Statistics

    POL 502: IntermediateStatistics

    Dr. Ben-Nun Bloom is a Professor. She studies religion and comparative politics. For more on Dr. Ben-Nun Bloom and her research, go here. Dr. Ben-Nun Bloom teaches our course on Intermediate Statistics and this is what she had to say about it:



    “In my Statistics course, we’ll learn how to use state-of-the art stats programs to analyze the data that political scientists collect.”