Introduces political psychology as a field that began in the early 20th century in the United States when Charles Merriam from the University of Chicago was researching how psychological factors are affecting political choices. In Europe political psychology has mainly been concerned with the reverse questioning: how politics are affecting psychology. Since the 1950's political psychology has been associated with analyzing and understanding international conflicts as is exemplified with Kelman and Fisher's research. L. Pitkaniemi
As a consequence in internationalization and general trends in publishing, compilation theses, a form of publication relatively new to the political science field, are likely to become increasingly common. Those specializing in social sciences disciplines such as psychology and economics have had more experience in dealing with this type of publication. Based on their experiences, it is possible to unite on certain guidelines when evaluating publication quality. A compilation thesis should typically include from three to five scholarly contributions. At least one contribution should be self-authored. It should be clear what portion of the writing has been contributed by the doctoral candidate. Contributions should deal with a common overall theme. The beginning summary of the thesis should be carefully evaluated for its effectiveness in pointing out gaps in earlier research on the topic under discussion and for the pulling together of contributions. Esaiasson discusses how some years ago teaching staff at the Goteborg Institute developed a set of evaluation guidelines but notes that the institute hasn't produced compilation theses in recent years, so the guidelines havent yet been tested in actual practice. Further discussion is needed concerning the criteria for evaluating this emerging type of publication. Adapted from the source document.
