PPC (Political Psychology Application and Research Center) - Director’s Message
The most important skill we need to learn and develop as humanity at the beginning of the 21st century is to completely change the way we think about war and violence!
We urgently need to learn and teach how to resolve wars, and conflicts by constructive and peaceful means in all contexts and at all levels.
This standpoint requires a serious mentality and paradigm shift. We have to produce, discuss and implement interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary peaceful approaches.
It is crucial to understand the psychological causes of political behavior if we intend to change behavior patterns that are harmful to humanity and encourage beneficial ones.
The issue of how people's political behaviors are affected in the era of digitalization, which is growing in a dizzying way in digital marketing, virtual reality, social media addiction, artificial intelligence, digital communication, social media expertise, viral marketing, blogs, influencers, digital surveillance and many more, becomes more important.
Political Psychology is an interdisciplinary, idiosyncratic, and a relatively new field of scientific study, both on a global and national scale, addressing this need. For this reason, it does not have a standard education and training format, and its content and application purpose can be shaped by different frameworks. Political psychology studies, which are shaped by an absolute academic format in some institutions, appear as a field of practice that contributes to the state bureaucracy in some places.
Political psychology can produce solutions that can be applied in every field. In this context, many political behaviors such as the climate of elections and acts of terrorism can now be analyzed within the broad spectrum of political psychology with neuroscientific approaches and advanced technologies.
From functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) imaging used by the scientific world to map the human mind, to artificial intelligence applications, and eye movement analysis devices, to stimulating/suppressing brain-related activities with transcarnial direct current stimulation (tDCS), many types of equipment are used in the world, both in civilian life and in the military agenda. This brings us to these crossroads, where the intersection of political science and psychology is inevitable today. Studies in this field, which can be considered new not only in our country but also throughout the world, are generally foreign-sourced studies. Uskudar University established the Political Psychology Application and Research Center in December 2018 and aims to organize symposiums, conferences, and workshops and produce scientific research and publications in this center. With our activities, we not only plan to realize a vision for our students but also aim to bring together academics working in this field and reach a point that will bring together internationally qualified institutions and networks. As the Political Psychology Application and Research Center, we hope to meet to contribute to the peace process and provide an academic infrastructure and environment for the production of new and applicable solutions to identify social needs and problems.
Prof. Havva Kök ARSLAN
Director of PPC