Section 28 - American Political Science Association (APSA)

Political Psychology Section Award Recipients

More on the Political Psychology section

Best Dissertation Award
Robert E. Lane Award
Best Paper Award
Distinguished Junior Scholar Award
Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award

Best Dissertation Award

The Best Dissertation Award is given for the best dissertation in political psychology filed during the previous year.

2025	Natan Skigin, University of Georgia “Challenging Stigma from Below: How Human Rights Movements Contest Repressive States and Shape Democratic Citizenship.”
2025	Honorable Mention Jennifer Hamilton, Georgia Institute of Technology “A Legacy of Woes: Internalized Racism and Political Accountability in Contemporary Kenya.”
2024	Hilary Izatt, University of Michigan “The Political Psychology of Electoral Suppression: Electoral Manipulation, Emotion, and Mobilization”
2023	Elizabeth Herman, University of California, Berkeley “Individual Trauma, Collective Stability: The Psychological Consequences of Conflict and Forced Migration on Social Cohesion”
2023	Honorable Mention Amanda d’Urso, Northwestern University “In the Shadow of Whiteness: Middle Eastern and North African Identity in the United States”
2022	Angie Ocampo, University of Pittsburgh “Becoming American: The Social and Political Incorporations of Latinos”
2021	Matt Nelsen, University of Chicago “Educating for Empowerment: Race, Socialization, and Reimagining Civic Education.” Northwestern University.
2020	Hakeem Jefferson “Policing Norms: Punishment and the Politics of Respectability Among Black Americans”
2020	Eunji Kim “Entertaining Beliefs in Economic Mobility”
2019	Pavielle Haines, University of Denver “A Vote for Me Is a vote for America: Patriotic Appeals in Presidential Elections.”
2018	Adam Thai, Princeton University “The Origin of Affluent Class Interests and Their Consequences for Inequality.”
2017	Martin Bisgaard, Aarhus University “Perceiving the Unobservable.”
2016	Eun Bin Chung, University of Utah “Overcoming the History Problem: Group-Affirmation in International Relations.”
2015	Timothy J. Ryan, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill “No Compromise: The Politics of Moral Conviction”
2014	Samara Klar, University of Arizona “The Influence of Identity on Political Preferences”
2013	Gwyneth McClendon, Harvard University “The Politics of Envy and Esteem in Two Democracies”
2013	Honorable Mention Nathan Kalmoe, George Washington University “Mobilizing Aggression in Mass Politics”
2012	Christopher Dawes, New York University An Examination of Potential Causal Mechanisms Linking Genes and Political Behavior (Completed at the University of California, San Diego; advised by James H. Fowler)
2012	Honorable Mention Sarah Harrison, London School of Economics Ideological (Mis)match? Mapping Extreme Right Ideological Discourse and Voter Preferences
2011	Toby Bolsen, Georgia State University “Private Behaviors for the Public Good: Citizens’ Actions and U.S. Energy Conservation”
2010	Eric Groenendyk, University of Michigan The Motivated Partisan: A Dual Motivations Theory of Partisan Change and Stability
2010	Danielle Shani, Princeton University On the Origins of Political Interest
2009	Dona-Gene Mitchell, University of Nebraska “It’s About Time: The Dynamics of Information Processing in Political Campaigns”
2007	Natalie Stroud, University of Pennsylvania Selective Exposure to Partisan Information
2006	David Nickerson, University of Notre Dame “Measuring Interpersonal Influence”
2006	Darren Schreiber, University of California, San Diego “Evaluating Politics: A Search for the Neural Substrates of Political Thought”
2004	Cindy Kam, University of California–Davis ” Thinking More or Less: Cognitive Effort in the Formation of Public Opinion”

Robert E. Lane Award

The Robert E. Lane Award for the best book in political psychology published in the past year.

2025	Taylor Carlson, Washington University in St. Louis Through the Grapevine. University of Chicago Press, 2024.
2024	Alex Coppock, Yale University Persuasion in Parallel: How Information Changes Minds about Politics. University of Chicago Press, 2023.
2023	Margit Tavits, Washington University in St. Louis Voicing Politics: How Language Shapes Public Opinion. Princeton Press, 2022. Efrén Pérez, University of California, Los Angeles Voicing Politics: How Language Shapes Public Opinion. Princeton Press, 2022.
2022	Cigdem V. Sirin, University of Texas at El Paso Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
2022	Nicholas A. Valentino, University of Michigan Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
2022	Jose D. Villalobos, University of Texas, El Paso Seeing Us in Them: Social Divisions and the Politics of Group Empathy, Cambridge University Press, 2021.
2021	Nichole M. Bauer, Louisiana State University The Qualifications Gap: Why Women Must Be Better than Men to Win Political Office. Cambridge University Press.
2020	Ashley Jardina, Duke University White Identity Politics. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
2020	Markus Prior, Princeton University Hooked. Cambridge University Press 2019.
2019	Gwyneth McClendon, New York University Envy in Politics. Princeton University Press, 2018.
2018	Ryan J. Vander Wielen, Temple University Taming Intuition: How Reflection Minimizes Partisan Reasoning and Promotes Democratic Accountability. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
2018	Kevin Arceneaux, Temple University Taming Intuition: How Reflection Minimizes Partisan Reasoning and Promotes Democratic Accountability. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
2017	Yanna Krupnikov, Stony Brook University Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
2017	Samara Klar, University of Arizona Independent Politics: How American Disdain for Parties Leads to Political Inaction. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
2017	Honorable Mention Samuel Bowles, Santa Fe Institute The Moral Economy: Why Good Incentives Are No Substitute for Good Citizens. Yale University Press, 2016.
2016	Bethany Albertson, University of Texas at Austin Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World. Cambridge University Press, 2015
2016	Shana Gadarian, Syracuse University Anxious Politics: Democratic Citizenship in a Threatening World. Cambridge University Press, 2015
2016	Stuart J. Kaufman, University of Delaware Nationalist Passions. Cornell University Press, 2015
2015	Christopher F. Karpowitz, Brigham Young University The Silent Sex: Gender, Deliberation, and Institutions. Princeton University Press, 2014
2015	Tali Mendelberg, Princeton University The Silent Sex: Gender, Deliberation, and Institutions. Princeton University Press, 2014
2014	Charles Taber, SUNY, Stony Brook University The Rationalizing Voter
2014	Milton Lodge Dr., SUNY, Stony Brook University The Rationalizing Voter
2014	Honorable Mention Eric Groenendyk, University of Memphis Competing Motives in the Partisan Mind: How Loyalty and Responsiveness Shape Partisan Identity and Democracy
2013	Howard Lavine, University of Minnesota The Ambivalent Partisan: How Critical Loyalty Promotes Democracy (Oxford University Press)
2013	Christopher Johnston, Duke University The Ambivalent Partisan: How Critical Loyalty Promotes Democracy (Oxford University Press 2012)
2013	Marco Steenbergen, University of Zurich The Ambivalent Partisan: How Critical Loyalty Promotes Democracy (Oxford University Press 2012)
2012	Deborah Schildkraut, Tufts University Americanism in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
2012	James Druckman, Northwestern University Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
2012	Donald Green, Columbia University Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
2012	James Kuklinski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science
2012	Arthur Lupia, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Political Science (Cambridge University Press, 2011)
2011	Mark Peffley, University of Kentucky Justice in America
2011	Jon Hurwitz, University of Pittsburgh Justice in America
2010	Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, University of Nebraska, Lincoln Who Counts As An American: The Boundaries of Natural Identity
2010	Robert Shiller, Yale University Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism
2010	George Akerlof, University of California, Berkeley Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism
2009	Sunshine Hillygus, Harvard University The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Presidential Campaigns (Princeton University Press, 2008)
2009	Todd Shields, University of Arkansas The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Predidential Campaigns (Princeton University Press, 2008)
2007	Diana Mutz, University of Pennsylvania Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy
2006	Philip Tetlock, University of California, Berkeley Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? (Princeton University Press, 2005)
2005	Kristen Monroe, University of California, Irvine The Hand of Compassion (Princeton University Press, 2004).
2004	David Sears, University of California-Los Angeles Co-Edited with Leonie Huddy, SUNY, Stony Brook, and Robert Jervis, Columbia University, “Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology,” (Oxford University Press, 2003)
2004	Leonie Huddy, SUNY, Stony Brook Co-Edited with David Sears, UCLA, and Robert Jervis, Columbia University, “Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology,” (Oxford University Press, 2003)
2004	Robert Jervis, Columbia University Co-Edited with Leonie Huddy, SUNY, Stonybrook, and David Sears, UCLA, “Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology,” (Oxford University Press, 2003)
2002	Bryan Jones, University of Washington Politics and the Architecture of Choice: Bounded Rationality and Governance
2001	Robert Entman, North Carolina State University The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America
2001	Andrew Rojecki, University of Illinois at Chicago The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America
2001	Robert Lane, Yale University The Loss of Happiness in Market Democracies
2000	Martin Gilens, University of California, Los Angeles Why Americans Hate Welfare: Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy (University of Chicago Press, 1999)
1999	Diana Mutz, Ohio State University Impersonal Influence: How Perceptions of Mass Collectives Affect Political Attitudes (Cambridge Univesity Press, 1998)
1998	Eric Dean Jr. Shook Over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War and Robert Jervis, for System Effects: Complexity in Political and Social Life
1997	Kristen Monroe, University of California-Irvine The Heart of Altruism (Princeton Univesity Press, 1996)
1995	Bryan Jones, Texas A&M; University Reconsidering Decision-Making in Democratic Politics (Univesity of Chicago Press, 1994)
1994	John Zaller, University of California, Los Angeles The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion (New York: Cambridge Univesity Press, 1992)
1994	Yuen Khong, Nuffield College Analogies at War: Korea, Munich, Dien Bien Phu and the Vietnam Decisions of 1965 (Princeton: Princeton Univesity Press, 1992)

Best Paper Award

The Best Paper Award is given to the most outstanding paper in political psychology delivered at the previous year’s Annual Meeting.

2025	Jasmine English, Stanford University “Close Race: How Correcting Underestimations of African Americans with Irish Ancestry Impacts Irish Americans’ Racial Attitudes.”
2024	Love Christensen, Aarhus University Rasmus Skytte, Aarhus University Rune Slothuus, Aarhus University “How Party Reputations Help Citizens Grasp What Is at Stake in Policy Debates”
2023	Allison P. Anoll, Vanderbilt University; Drew M. Engelhardt, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Mackenzie Israel-Trummel, College of William & Mary “From Protest to Child-Rearing: How Movement Politics Shape Socialization Priorities”
2022	Hui Bai, Stanford Unversity “When Racism and Sexism Benefit Black and Female Politicians”
2021	Elizabeth Connors, University of South Carolina “Social Context Shapes Affective Polarization.” Presented at the 2020 APSA Annual Meeting.
2020	Steven Moore, University of Michigan “The Road to Hell: Racialized Paternalism and Political Behavior.”
2019	Vin Arceneaux, Temple University “A ‘Need for Chaos’ and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies.”
2019	Michael Bang Petersen, Aarhus University “A ‘Need for Chaos’ and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies.”
2019	Mathias Osmundsen, Aarhus University “A ‘Need for Chaos’ and the Sharing of Hostile Political Rumors in Advanced Democracies.”
2018	Rune Slothuus, Aarhus University “Can Citizens Be Framed? How Information More than Emphasis Changes Political Opinions.”
2018	Thomas Leeper, London School of Economics “Can Citizens Be Framed? How Information More than Emphasis Changes Political Opinions.”
2017	Melissa Sands, University of California, Merced “Who Wants to Tax a Millionaire? Exposure to Inequality Reduces Support for Redistribution.”
2016	Eric Groenendyk, Rutgers University “What Motivates Reasoning? A Goal-Oriented Theory of Political Evaluation.”
2016	Yanna Krupnikov, Stony Brook University “What Motivates Reasoning? A Goal-Oriented Theory of Political Evaluation.”
2015	Samara Klar, University of Arizona “When Common Identities Fuel Affective Polarization: An Experimental Study of Democratic and Republican Women”
2014	Tali Mendelberg, Princeton University “Gender Inequality in Deliberation: Unpacking the Black Box of Interaction”
2014	Christopher Karpowitz, Brigham Young University “Gender Inequality in Deliberation: Unpacking the Black Box of Interaction”
2014	John Oliphant, Princeton University “Gender Inequality in Deliberation: Unpacking the Black Box of Interaction”
2013	James Druckman, Northwestern University “How Elite Partisan Polarization Affects Public Opinion Formation”
2013	Erik Peterson, Stanford University “How Elite Partisan Polarization Affects Public Opinion Formation”
2013	Rune Slothuus, Aarhus University “How Elite Partisan Polarization Affects Public Opinion Formation”
2012	Christopher Karpowitz, Brigham Young Univesity “Do Women Deliberate with a Distinctive Voice? How Decision Rules and Group Gender Composition Affect the Content of Deliberation”
2012	Tali Mendelberg, Princeton University “Do Women Deliberate with a Distinctive Voice? How Decision Rules and Group Gender Composition Affect the Content of Deliberation”
2011	Nicholas Valentino, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor “Election Night’s All Right for Fighting”
2011	Krysha Gregorowicz, University of Michigan Election Night’s All Right for Fighting
2011	Eric Groenendyk, University of Michigan Election Night’s All Right for Fighting
2011	Ted Brader, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor “Election Night’s Alright for Fighting”
2011	Vincent Hutchings, University of Michigan “Election Night’s All Right for Fighting”
2011	Dennis Chong, Northwestern University “Dynamic Public Opinion”
2011	James Druckman, Northwestern University “Dynamic Public Opinion”
2010	James Druckman, Northwestern University “Framing, Motivated Reasoning, and Opinions about Emergent Technologies”
2010	Toby Bolsen, Northwestern University “Framing, Motivated Reasoning, and Opinions about Emergent Technologies”
2009	Eric Groenendyk, University of Michigan “Justifying Party Identification: A Case of Identifying with the Lesser of Two Evils”
2006	Dennis Chong, Northwestern University “Competitive Framing”
2006	James Druckman, Northwestern University “Competitive Framing”

Distinguished Junior Scholars Award

The APSA Political Psychology section will give up to five $400 grants, meant for travel to the APSA, for junior scholars (graduate students or those no more than seven years since receiving their Ph.D.)

2025	Vicente Valentim, IE University Rongbo Jin, Chinese Univesity of Hong Kong Joseph S. Akowuah, Washington State University
2024	Alexandria Davis, University of California, Los Angeles Rex Deng, Washington University in St. Louis Rajeshwari Majumdar, New York University Autumn Perkey, University of Maryland Zoe Walker, University of Michigan Geneva Cole, The College of William & Mary Charles Crabtree, Dartmouth College
2023	Michael Strawbridge, Rutgers University; Natan Skigig, University of Notre Dame; Bianca Vicuña, University of California, Los Angeles; Andrew Englehardt, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Ben Lyons, University of Utah; Fabian Neuner, Arizona State University; Nicole Yadon, Ohio State University
2022	Rachel Bernhard, University of California, Davis
2022	Angela Ocampo, University of Maryland
2022	Leor Zmigrod, University of Cambridge
2022	Joe Vitriol, Stony Brook University
2022	Crystal Robertson, University of California Los Angeles
2022	Yalidy Matos, Rutgers University
2022	Julian Wamble, George Washington University
2021	Chryl Laird, Bowdoin College
2021	Nic Dias, University of Pennsylvania
2020	Brian Harrison, University of Minnesota
2019	Tyler Reny, University of California, Los Angeles
2019	Joshua Kertzer, Harvard University
2017	Tom Jamieson, University of Southern California
2017	Meghan Condon, DePaul University
2016	Matthew Ward, University of Houston
2016	D.J. Flynn, Northwestern University
2016	Tarah Williams, University of Illinois
2015	Alexa Bankert, Stony Brook University
2015	Nichole Bauer, University of Alabama
2015	Christopher J. Ojeda, Pennsylvania State University
2015	Douglas Pierce, Rutgers University
2015	Eike Mark Rinke, University of Mannheim
2014	Monica Schneider, Miami University of Ohio
2014	Scott Clifford, Duke University and University of Houston
2014	Samara Klar, University of Arizona
2014	Thomas Leeper, Aarhus University
2013	Monica Schneider, Miami University of Ohio
2013	Julie Wronski, SUNY, Stony Brook University
2012	Juan Urbano Jr., University of Kansas
2012	April Johnson, SUNY, Stony Brook University
2012	Kristyn Karl, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2012	Rachel Silbermann, Yale University
2012	Erica Czaja, Princeton University
2012	Spencer Piston, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2012	Ashley Muddiman, University of Texas, Austin
2012	Mona Kleinberg, Rutgers University
2012	Jaime Settle, College of William & Mary
2012	Cengiz Erisen, TOBB University of Economics and Technology

Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award

The Political Psychology Career Achievement Award is awarded biennially to recognize a scholar whose lifetime scholarship and service to the profession has made an outstanding contribution to the field of political psychology.

2025	Kristen Monroe, University of California, Irvine
2023	Milton Lodge, The State University of New York at Stony Brook
2021	Shanto Iyengar, Stanford University
2019	Donald R. Kinder, University of Michigan
2017	James H. Kuklinski, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign