About

Stanley Feldman has been a professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University for the past 30 years. He received his Bachelor of Art at Stony Brook and then attended the University of Minnesota, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Political Science. He was the associate director for the Stony Brook University Center for Survey Research from 2000 to 2015. He also served as a co-editor of the journal Political Psychology from 2005 to 2010 and is a past president of the International Society for Political Psychology. His current research focuses on political ideology and political psychology, specifically the origins of political preferences, the structure of political ideology and values, and the psychological bases of attitudes and opinions. He is working on projects to understand the effects of authoritarianism on partisanship, voting, and political conflict, as well as examining how media consumption influences emotions like anger and the acceptance and dissemination of fake news in American politics. His work also explores the impact of personality characteristics on political attitudes, the role of emotions in politics, and public responses to terrorism and threat.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Law
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Criminology
• Aerospace engineering
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Political Socialization and Social Networks

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Political Socialization and Social Networks

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Authoritarian Belief System

  2025-12-15

  book-chapter

  Abstract Chapter 4 documents the emergence of a broader “authoritarian belief system” in the White public. It demonstrates that authoritarianism now constrains a wide range of sociocultural attitudes. Moral traditionalism, racial conservatism, hostility to immigration, concern for social order, and defense attitudes are (as of 2020) tightly correlated with one another and with authoritarianism among White Americans. Analyses covering the 1992–2020 period indicate that authoritarianism-based attitude consistency increased considerably from 1992 to 2020 among White Americans. The chapter also shows that authoritarianism-based attitude consistency is greater among college-educated White respondents in all periods, but that it has increased more among non-college Whites. Importantly, it finds pronounced effects of the 2016 and 2020 elections on authoritarianism-based constraint among both college and non-college Whites, reinforcing the argument that elections in which sociocultural divisions are salient—such as the 2016 and 2020 Trump elections—can increase the impact of the authoritarian predisposition.

  PublisherDOI

• Complexities in the Measurement of Explicit Racial Attitudes

  Cambridge University Press eBooks · 2024-12-21 · 2 citations

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Authoritarianism and Political Conflict

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2023-09-18 · 17 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract In this chapter we review recent research on authoritarianism with the goal of addressing major issues of conceptualization, measurement, and political consequences. We highlight a conceptualization of authoritarianism that identifies the desire for social cohesion and defense of ingroup norms as central to the dynamics of authoritarianism. The consequences of authoritarianism—intolerance of dissent, out-group animosity, and support for anti-democratic leaders and parties—are a result of the experience of threat to social cohesion among those with authoritarian predispositions. Threats may be associated with processes of social change (changing gender norms) or changes to the status of the majority group from immigration. There is also some evidence that those low in authoritarianism may respond to existential threats (terrorism) with support for increased security. The role of threat in the dynamics of authoritarianism helps to provide a basis for understanding the conditions under which authoritarianism becomes a politically potent force.

  PublisherDOI

• Authoritarianism and Political Conflict

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2023-09-18

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract In this chapter we review recent research on authoritarianism with the goal of addressing major issues of conceptualization, measurement, and political consequences. We highlight a conceptualization of authoritarianism that identifies the desire for social cohesion and defense of ingroup norms as central to the dynamics of authoritarianism. The consequences of authoritarianism—intolerance of dissent, out-group animosity, and support for anti-democratic leaders and parties—are a result of the experience of threat to social cohesion among those with authoritarian predispositions. Threats may be associated with processes of social change (changing gender norms) or changes to the status of the majority group from immigration. There is also some evidence that those low in authoritarianism may respond to existential threats (terrorism) with support for increased security. The role of threat in the dynamics of authoritarianism helps to provide a basis for understanding the conditions under which authoritarianism becomes a politically potent force.

  PublisherDOI

• XV. Intergruppenvorurteile und Stereotype

  Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG eBooks · 2022-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author

  Politisches Verhalten aus psychologischer bzw. sozialpsychologischer Perspektive zu untersuchen, ist Aufgabe der Politischen Psychologie. Ihre Themengebiete umfassen unter anderem die Analyse politischer Eliten, insbesondere deren Persönlichkeit, Motive und Handlungen, politische Führung, außenpolitische Entscheidungsprozesse, internationale und ethnische Konflikte und deren Befriedung, Terrorismus, Bedingungen kollektiven Handelns, Gruppenverhalten, politische Sozialisation und Einstellungen, Stereotype und Vorurteile, Wahlverhalten, politische Kommunikation und Informationsverarbeitung, Medienwirkungen und Öffentliche Meinung. Renommierte internationale und deutschsprachige Vertreterinnen und Vertreter der Politischen Psychologie stellen in diesem Handbuch, welches nun in 2., aktualisierter und erweiterter Auflage vorliegt, die thematische Bandbreite dieser Teildisziplin erstmals in deutscher Sprache vor. Das Handbuch richtet sich an Studierende und Lehrende der Politischen Psychologie, Politikwissenschaft, Psychologie oder Sozialpsychologie sowie an alle an den Themen und Theorieansätzen der Politischen Psychologie Interessierten. Mit Beiträgen von Kai Arzheimer, Daniel Bar-Tal, Simon Bein, Klaus Boehnke, Franziska Deutsch, YohananEshel, Ofer Feldman, Stanley Feldman, Cornelia Frank, Henrik Gast, RayneeGutting, Katja Hanke, Sascha Huber, Leonie Huddy, Anke Hufer-Thamm, Rajiv S. Jhangiani, Christian Kandler, Shaul Kimhi, Angela Kindervater, Bernhard Leidner, Mengyao Li, Brian Lickel, Jürgen Maier, Michael F. Meffert, Michaela Pfundmair, Jerrold M. Post, Anna-Maria Renner, Rainer Riemann, Susanne Rippl, Tobias Rothmund, Christian Seipel, Markus Steinbrecher, Peter Suedfeld, Linda R. Tropp, Soli Vered und Sonja Zmerli.

  PublisherDOI

• Replication Data for: Advancing the Measurement of Authoritarianism

  Harvard Dataverse · 2021-04-16

  datasetOpen access

  The included code and data replicate the analyses reported in Engelhardt, Feldman, and Hetherington. The analysis files include R and Mplus. Analysis data sets come from the American National Election Studies and the Qualtrics panel.

  PublisherDOI

• Advancing the Measurement of Authoritarianism

  Political Behavior · 2021 · 76 citations

  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Social psychology
  PublisherDOI

• The Psychology of Authoritarianism and Support for Illiberal Policies and Parties

  2021-11-17 · 14 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  This chapter sets out a theoretical framework for the psychological predisposition of authoritarianism and develops predictions for the conditions under which authoritarianism increases support for illiberal policies and political parties. Psychological authoritarianism is conceptualized as the tension between a desire for personal autonomy and conformity to social norms and authority. Those high on the authoritarianism dimension place a substantially higher value on social conformity relative to personal autonomy. Authoritarianism becomes politically relevant, in this framework, when people perceive a threat to societal norms or authorities. This could result from increasing diversity in a country (immigration), or rapid social change (changing gender norms). The chapter then reviews empirical research that examines the effects of authoritarianism on prejudice toward minorities, acceptance of restrictions on civil liberties, support for illiberal political parties, voting for Donald Trump, and support for Brexit. Finally, the chapter concludes by discussing promising avenues for future research.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Leonie Huddy

  30 shared

• Pamela Johnston Conover

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  12 shared

• Peter A. Soyka

  Arizona State University

  11 shared

• George E. Marcus

  7 shared

• John L. Sullivan

  Muhlenberg College

  6 shared

• James R. Morrow

  6 shared

• John Sprague

  5 shared

• Robert Huckfeldt

  University of California System

  5 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Political Science

  University of Minnesota

• B.A.

  Stony Brook

Awards & honors

• Past president of the International Society for Political Ps…