I didn’t start out to write a book. I came to it as a result of politics. In 2019, I retired from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wanting to do something useful and interact with young people, I started teaching Introductory Psychology part-time at a local community college.

While my PhD was in Experimental Psychology, most of my career centered on Public Health. So, I was pleasantly surprised when, while reviewing the Introductory Psychology book before my first semester, I found myself totally fascinated by the new research I had not known about, as well as by the old research I had learned but could now appreciate even more after 30 more years of living.

As you may remember, Donald Trump was president in 2019.  I found myself genuinely puzzled about how individuals chose a candidate whose abilities and judgment seemed to fall short of the average. When asked why they voted for him, many respondents could not provide a logical reason. After just a little research during my first semester of teaching, I discovered a whole area of Psychology called Political Psychology.

I had no idea it existed. While I tried to be informed and watched the news, I still never heard the topic highlighted (granted, I could have missed it).

Being curious, since it was my job to help students understand psychology, I attempted to connect different areas of research discussed in my textbook chapters with political psychology to understand how people come to vote the way they do.

Then came the 2024 election, and Trump was elected again. I was perplexed, to say the least, and decided to write down what I had learned about political psychology and related topics over the past five years of my teaching. This was therapy for me. A couple of my friends, who had written their own books, offered encouragement for me to put this information in book form to share, so we can all better understand how we might help future generations live in a peaceful world and on a healthy planet.