Behavioral Models of Politics 2019

Penn State University
May 23-24, 2019

Welcome to the 2019 Behavioral Models of Politics conference.

Behavioral Models of Politics brings together formal theory and strategic models of politics with political psychology and models that emphasize emotion, identity, bias, or cognitive limitation. BMP encourages a dialogue between groups of scholars — theorists, empiricists and behavioral experimentalists — who all provide critical insight into political behavior, but who often remain siloed. Our goals include increasing the incorporation of psychological considerations into traditional rational choice models; strengthening and formalizing the theories underlying current behavioral research; and developing tractable models of political behavior that reflect the full range of human decision-making.  Previous conferences have been held at University of Pittsburgh, Duke and Rice.

The conference is open to all sub-fields in political science as well as related disciplines: we are interested in papers with a behavioral question and a strong theoretical focus. Submitted research might propose new theories of behavior; test assumptions underlying existing models; identify the interactions or boundaries between strategic and non-strategic behavior; or document empirical regularities that need to be accounted for by behavioral models. Those interested in workshopping designs, or collaboratively developing new formal models or experimental protocols are also welcome.

Agenda

Thursday, May 23

9:00 – 9:50 am Eric Plutzer and Joseph Phillips, “How and When Do Negative Emotions Spur Political Participation?”
9:50 – 10:40 am Abraham Aldama, “An Experimental Test of the Effect of Fear on Coordination”
11:00 – 11:50 am Mark Pickup, “Political Parties, Interest Group Identities, and Group Pressures: A Search for Democracy’s Missing Demand Function”
11:50 – 12:40 pm Reuben Kline, Talbot Andrews and Andy Delton, “Who do you Trust? Inefficiency Incentives in Climate Change Mitigation”
2:00 – 2:50 pm Natalia Bueno, “The Timing of Public Policies: Political Cycles and Credit Claiming in a Housing Policy in Brazil”
2:50– 3:40 pm Julie Anne Weaver, “The Electoral Disconnection: Voter Behavior and the Rejection of Re-election”
4:00 – 4:50 pm Margaret Foster, “Bottom-up Transformation: Recruitment Driven Pressures For Internal Change”

Friday, May 24

9:00 – 9:50 am Carlos Rivera, “A Terrifying Journey to the Centre of Politics: Political Centrism as an Effect of Mortality Salience and a Need for Closure”
9:50 – 10:40 am Sheheryar Banuri, “The Governance Game”
11:00 – 11:50 am Suzie Mulesky, “A Signaling Theory of Human Rights NGOs”
11:50 – 12:40 pm Nicholas Campbell-Seremetis, “Reasoning with Fools and Fanatics: How Diplomatic Preferences are Affected by Perceived Incompetence and Irrationality”