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The political science major requirements at Bryn Mawr are characterized by a great deal of flexibility. This is at first glance a good thing, but on second thought we may begin to feel a bit guilty about our relative lack of structure, as though we were getting away with something—especially in the context of the Bryn Mawr ethos in which rigidity and departmental insularity are generally taken to be the surest signs of academic excellence. (The really best, most respectable, majors are the toughest—i.e., the ones that require students to take the most courses within the department.) Is the political science major at Bryn Mawr respectable? Or does this department treat its students as the pastry cooks in Plato's Gorgias treat children, stuffing them with the yummies they foolishly desire, and so easily defeating the heroic attempts of good doctors to persuade the young to take the salutary medicine their health requires?

Living in interesting times : how can behavioral political science help us understand the current political moment? -- The rational actor model of political decision making -- The limits of human processing : bounded rationality, heuristics & biases -- What you say may matter less than how you say it : the role of framing in political communication effects -- The limitations of the unitary actor model of government -- Feeling politics : how emotions impact attitudes and behavior -- The origins of political preferences : material self-interest or personality, moral values and group attitudes? -- Better to be right or to belong? Motivated reasoning in politics -- Looking forward : how behavioral political science can help policymakers.

Since emerging in the late nineteenth century, political science has undergone a radical shift--from constructing grand narratives of national political development to producing empirical studies of individual political phenomena. What caused this change? Modern Political Science--the first authoritative history of Anglophone political science--argues that the field's transformation shouldn't be mistaken for a case of simple progress and increasing scientific precision.