Supported by contributions to the
Group Psychotherapy Foundation
Psychology and Politics
Robert Michels,
M.D.
Psychology is the
study of behavior, mental life, subjective experience—what people do
and why they do it. Politics is one of the important arenas of human
behavior, as individuals adapt to the state and to society, live in
groups, make choices, use power and are used by those in power. It
seems apparent that psychology should be an important tool in
understanding political behavior, and many have tried to use it to
that end. However most often it disappoints. Why?
Dr. Robert Michels is
a Walsh McDermott University Professor of Medicine, and University
Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell
University, where he was formerly Chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry and Dean and Provost for Medical Affairs. Dr. Michels is
also a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the Columbia
University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. He is
the author of many articles and co-edited multiple texts. His best
known work is The Psychiatric
Interview in Clinical Practice.
