Election Literacy 2024: Psychology Behind Political Decisions

The popular wisdom on human decision-making is that humans make decisions by assessing the costs and benefits associated with every option and picking the one that minimizes costs and maximizes benefits. In politics, then, we would expect that people have clear preferences for leaders and policies that are the result of similar cost/benefit calculations. But how do we reconcile this theory with the reality that most people know little about politics and do not follow it closely? Or that people are willing to vote against their own self-interest? Learn about a new perspective, that of social psychology, with Professor Alexandra Filindra, associate professor of Political Science and Psychology at the University of Illinois Chicago and Political Scientist in Residence at the Vernon Area Library.

This presentation is free and open to all adults. Sign up here, by telephone at 224-543-1485, or in person when you visit the library.