Given the impending General Election, this an important time to consider how psychological factors influence decisions taken by MPs and what goes on in Westminster more generally.
Psychologists have recently begun to peer inside the intricate mechanism of the Houses of Parliament and will reveal their findings at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference at the University of Manchester today, Thursday 31 March 2005.
Using specially developed questionnaires, Professor Ashley Weinberg of Salford University has found that many MPs are subjected to absurdly high levels of demand, often feel very stressed and do not feel fully in control of what is happening in their occupational lives on a day-to-day basis.
Dr Richard Kwiatkowski of Cranfield University has interviewed MPs in order to see if Parliament modernised itself during the first ‘New Labour’ term of 1997 to 2001. His work shows that despite dissatisfaction, particularly amongst new MPs, there was little change in the internal workings of the Houses of Parliament during this time.
Professor Michael Rush, professor emeritus at Exeter University, showed how new MPs absorb the culture of the institution. He found that in learning how to perform the job, MPs are indoctrinated into the ways of their party and by the House of Commons. So incoming MPs arrive with fixed expectations about what being an MP involves.
Louise Ferguson of Digital Habitats makes the case at the conference that government has not engaged as effectively as it could with electronic digital technologies. But she states that, in the same way that the internet has changed shopping habits, digital technologies will change the face of politics and representation in the 21st century.
Dr Sarah Childs from Bristol University's Department of Politics interviewed women MPs elected for the first time in 1997 and found women and men conduct politics rather differently. Men tend to engage in adversarial positions, while women prefer a more cooperative approach. But the male version of politics is seen as more valuable so newly elected women felt their style was considered less legitimate.
While Professor Jo Silvester of Goldsmiths College, has examined the selection of local and national politicians. She showed political roles challenge traditional selection methods.