Dr. Ian Anson will present “A Reckoning of Political Misperceptions: The Psychological Origins of the Storming of the U.S. Capitol” as part of our Non-Forum Series for the Spring 2021 semester.

Join us on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, at 6 p.m. via Zoom. There is no formal registration. 

Talk Description:

On January 6, 2021, a group of Americans stormed the U.S. Capitol, attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election by force. This event rattled Congress, captured headlines, and left many Americans with a newfound sense of dismay. How did it all come to this?

Political psychologists have devoted decades to understanding why and how Americans develop—and act upon—fringe political beliefs. In this presentation, I review recent advances in the fields of misinformation, polarization, and motivated reasoning. In doing so, I explain how ordinary Americans can develop dangerous misperceptions, why such misperceptions are difficult to correct, and what these trends portend for future political movements in the United States.

Bio:

Ian Anson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland. He joined the department in 2015, after completing a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.S. in Applied Statistics at Indiana University-Bloomington. Ian’s research primarily investigates partisan motivated reasoning, a phenomenon that causes Republicans and Democrats to maintain diverging views of political and economic reality. His other work addresses diverse topics in public opinion, political psychology, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Recently, Ian was honored to receive UMBC’s CAHSS Early-Career Faculty Excellence Award.