Relationship Between Psychology & Economics and Psychology & Political Science?

Psychology and Economics:

In economics, we study the economic activities of men and society, how men earn their income and how they spend it. Economic activities are a large part of human behavior, and psychological factors have always been considered in economics as having played a major influence on human economic behavior.

Mill and Bentham had spoken of economic utilitarianism. Lately, McLelland and his associates have emphasized upon the role of achievement and motivation in economic behavior.

It can also not be denied that our income and the facilities we have influence our overall behavior a lot. Studies have been conducted by psychologists on the effect of income on our behavior. Economic backwardness and poverty create a lot of social unrest and increase in crime due to many psychological factors, and this has been the subject of study in many psychological researches.

The term middle class child is used and the behavior of this middle class like anxiety, ambitiousness, etc is discussed in psychology. Thus, we see psychology has a close relation with economics.

Psychology and Political Science:

Political Science concerns itself with political organizations, institutions and government practices. The relation between political science and sociology come from this very fact. The political system of a country is also shown to have its influence on human behavior and character through many researches. Psychology has conducted research on authoritarianism and the explanation to this has been sought in relation to various political systems.

Political scientists use the concepts of Machiavellianism, autocracy, etc., in connection with large societies, and these concepts have been applied by psychologists to small organizations. Kurt Lewin and his other followers have studied autocratic groups, democratic groups, and others and have compared how they function.

Psychology has also tried to analyse how psychology affects leadership. In this attempt the life sketch of many leaders. like Mahatma Gandhi, Martini Luther King, Adolph Hitler have been put under the scanner to get an insight into their behavior and what made them successful leaders. Different aspects of political behavior like propaganda, voting behavior, emergence of public opinion, mob mentality, too have been subject to research.