Teaching Methodologies
1. Expository and dialogue classes: Presentation of theories and concepts
accompanied by discussion with students.
2. Case studies: Analysis of political situations and/or events.
3. Thematic seminars: Presentations prepared and carried out by
students.
4. Data analysis: Interpretation of electoral polls and public opinion studies.
Students must choose one of the following options: attendance assessment or final exam.
The ATTENDANCE ASSESSMENT will consist of classwork and a test. The first component will contribute 30% and the second 70% of the final attendance assessment grade.
The final exam will consist of a multiple-choice and short-answer question test. Candidates who obtain a score between 7.0 and 9.4 will be admitted to an oral exam. For these students, the final grade will be the arithmetic mean of the written exam score and the oral exam score. Candidates who obtain a score lower than 7.0 will fail.
Learning Results
Students are expected to be able to:
1- Understand the main theories and approaches to political behavior.
2- Analyze the factors that influence political participation, such as culture, identity and institutions.
3- Interpret data and research related to electoral behavior and public opinion.
4- Critically evaluate the impact of social media and journalism on the formation of political behaviors.
5- Develop an interdisciplinary perspective on political phenomena,
integrating concepts from social communication and political sciences.
Program
1-Introduction to political behavior: definitions and fundamental concepts
2- Classical theories and approaches to electoral behavior and political participation
3- Political identity and psychosocial influences
4- Institutions and rules of the political game
5- Electoral behavior and public opinion
6- Social media, social networks and political behavior
7. Misinformation and fake news
8. Digital activism and online political mobilization
9. Democratic challenges in the 21st century
Grading Methods
- - Attendance and Participation - 30.0%
- - Frequency - 70.0%
- - Exam - 100.0%
Internship(s)
NAO
Bibliography
• Antunes, R., (2010). Theoretical models of voting behaviour. In Exedra, Nº 4, p. 145-170
• Cook, Karen S., Levi, Margaret, Hardin, Russell, (2009). Whom can we
trust? : how groups, networks, and institutions make trust possible. New York : Russell Sage Foundation
• Crigler, Ann N. (2001). The psychology of political communication. Ann
Arbor : University of Michigan Press
- Larsen, Erik Gahner, FazeKas, Zoltán (2021). Reporting public opinion : how the media turns boring polls into biased news. Cham : Palgrave MacMillan
- Oliver, M. B.; Raney, A.A. &Bryant, J. (Eds.). (2020). Media effects: Advances in theory and research (4nd ed.). Routledge
- Roy J, Singh SP, Fournier P. The Power of Polls?: A Cross-National Experimental Analysis of the Effects of Campaign Polls. Cambridge University Press; 2021
- Zaller, John R. (1999). The nature and origins of mass opinion. Cambridge (England) : Cambridge University Press