Yamil Velez

Psychological foundations for partisanship, prejudice, voting choice, media intake and analysis, polarization, etc. Very interesting class!

Weekly discussion posts (2-3 questions from the readings), 3 short response papers (1 due before week 6 of the course, other 2 can be submitted any time), short prospectus for the final paper, final paper is 10-12 page research proposal. Quite a bit of reading, you read 3-4 pretty dense research papers, but have a whole week to do them and write your discussion questions. Unfortunately, doing the reading does really help your ability to understand and dissect scholarly research throughout the semester.

This course gave an insightful look into political psychology, a fascinating and rich field. The discussions helped synthesize the information and provided additional insight beyond what simply reading would do.

Professor Velez leads class discussion about the 3-4 research papers that you're assigned each week. The discussions are super interesting and he provides information to help fill in any gaps from the readings. He isn't the most available for timely feedback or office hours but does eventually get back via email. He's super knowledgeable in the subject area and has a lot of cool research experience to share and help you engage with the content.

The knowledge and perspectives offered in this course cover a wide range of political psychology scholars, mostly in the form of research papers and a few sections from books. The readings are curated very well and each section flows well into the next and combines as a whole body of knowledge spanning from mis/disinformation, to ideology and political behavior, and finally to persuasion. It is a very interesting course.

I think Professor Velez is an excellent professor and seminar instructor. The materials we discussed seemed to be well selected and applicable to current political concerns/topics. Professor Velez was well prepared for each class and was successful in facilitating group discussions (I even participated, which I rarely do in other classes). This is in part because he has the ability to make each student's contribution seem important and insightful and never makes you feel stupid for an objectively incorrect answer. This is also true for the discussion leader assignment (you lead the discussion for one of the studies during the semester). Instead of leaving you floundering if no one participates in your presentation, Professor Velez is really helpful in engaging the class. I usually prefer lectures, but I genuinely looked forward to this class each week and would highly recommend the seminar, especially if it is taught by Professor Velez.

- how decision making influences vote choice

How we as voters think and make decisions. How you may or may not be able to persuade others.

I learned about various aspects of the developing field of political psychology. This included well chosen units such as: media, race and prejudice, emotion, and persuasion. It also challenged students to develop their ability to interact with scholarly research.

Different factors that influence perception and understanding of facts