The Behavioral Political Science (BPS) lab is the research arm of POPDM. BPS aims at explaining the so-called ‘black box’ of political behavior and political decision making. It focuses on how and why leaders and citizens make decisions. BPS accounts for both the process and outcome of decisions. Research has shown that factors such as framing, motivated reasoning, emotions, biases, heuristics, and personality traits significantly affect political behavior and decision making. BPS is “everything that is not Rational Choice” (Mintz, Valentino and Wayne, forthcoming).
By providing more accurate insight into decision making processes, Behavioral Political Science, Behavioral Marketing, Behavioral Financing, and Behavioral Economics seek to better inform explanations and predictions of economic and political phenomena (Mintz and Terris, Oxford Handbook of Behavioral Political Science, forthcoming).
The Behavioral Political Science (BPS) lab at the RU, is a leading research center focusing on behavioral aspects of decisions in Political Science, International Relations and Public Policy.
