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Department of Political Science
polisci@umn.edu
612-624-4144
polisci@umn.edu
612-624-4144
Department Affiliations
University Affiliations
Narrative
Wendy Rahn is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. Before joining the Minnesota faculty, she held faculty positions at The Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin, and Duke University. She served on the Board of Overseers for the National Election Studies and as co-editor of Political Psychology, the official journal for the International Society of Political Psychology from 1996 to 2004. The Society also named her as the 1999 recipient of the Erik Erikson Award for Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Political Psychology. Also in 1999, she received the Emerging Scholar Award from the Organized Section on Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior from the American Political Science Association.
Her research interests include the role of emotions in political thinking and behavior, citizen participation in politics, the origins and consequences of political and social trust, and new forms of inequality in American society. Her articles have appeared in such places as the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Political Communication.
Educational Background
- Ph.D.: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
Publications
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Kwang Suk Yoon. 2009. “Geographies of Trust.“ American Behavioral Scientist 52(12): 1646-1663.
- Rahn, Wendy M. 2008. “Globalization, the Decline of Civic Commitments, and the Future of Democracy.“ In International Perspectives on Contemporary Democracy, Ed. Peter Nardulli, pp. 134 157. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
- Rahn, Wendy M. 2008. “Cooperation With and Without Trust: Evidence From Local Settings.“ In Cooperation: The Political Psychology of Effective Human Interaction, pp 259-274 Ed. by Brandon Sullivan, Mark Snyder, and John L Sullivan Boston, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Thomas J. Rudolph. 2005. “A Tale of Political Trust in American Cities.“ Public Opinion Quarterly 69:530-560.
- Rahn, Wendy M., Stephen Macedo, Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Jeffry M. Berry, Michael Brintnall, David E. Campbell, Luis Ricardo Frage, Archon Fung, William A. Galston, Christopher F. Karopowitz, Margaret Levi, Meira Levinson, Keena Lipsitz, Richard G. Niemi, Robert D. Putnam, Wendy M. Rahn, Rob Reich and Robert R. Rodgers, Todd Swanstrom, Katherine Cramer Walsh. 2005. Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Undermine Citizen Participation, and What We Can Do About it. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
- Sullivan, John L., Wendy M. Rahn, and Tom Rudolph. 2002. “The Contours of Political Psychology Situating Research on Political Information Processing.“ In Thinking about Political Psychology, ed. James H. Kuklinski. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Rahn, Wendy M., John L. Sullivan, and Thomas J. Rudolph. 2002. “Political Psychology and Political Science.“ In Thinking about Political Psychology, ed. James H. Kuklinski. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Thomas J. Rudolph. 2002. “Trust in Local Governments.“ In Barbara Norrander and Clyde Wilcox, eds. Understanding Public Opinion, 2 nd edition. Washington, DC: CQ Press.
- Chanley, Jenny, Thomas J. Rudolph, and Wendy M. Rahn. 2001. “Public Trust in Government in the Reagan Years and Beyond.“ In John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, eds. What is it About Government that Americans Dislike? Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 59-82.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Thomas Rudolph. 2001. “National Identities and the Future of Democracy.“ In Robert Entman and Lance Bennett, editors. Mediated Politics. Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press, pp. 453-467.
- Chanley, Virginia J., Thomas J. Rudolph and Wendy M. Rahn. 2000. “The Origins and Consequences of Public Trust in Government: A Time Series Analysis.“ Public Opinion Quarterly 64:239-256.
- Rahn, Wendy M. 2000. “Affect as Information: The Role of Public Mood in Political Reasoning.“ In Arthur Lupia, Mathew D. McCubbins, and Samuel L. Popkin, eds. Elements of Reason. Cambridge University Press, pp. 130-151.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Rebecca Hirshorn. 1999. "Political Advertising and Public Mood: A Study of Children’s Political Orientations Political Communication 16:387-407.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and John Transue. 1998. “Social Trust and Value Change: The Decline of Social Capital in American Youth, 1976-1995.“ Political Psychology 19:545-565.
- Brehm, John and Wendy M. Rahn 1997. "Individual Level Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Social Capital." American Journal of Political Science 41:999-1023.
- Rahn, Wendy M. and Katherine Cramer. 1996. "Activation and Application of Political Party Stereotypes." Political Communication 13:195-212.
- Rahn, Wendy M., Brian Kroeger, and Cynthia Kite. 1996. "A Framework for the Study of Public Mood." Political Psychology 17:29-58.
- Rahn, Wendy M. 1995. "Candidate Evaluation in Complex Information Environments: Cognitive Organization and Comparison Processes." In Political Judgment: Structure and Process, ed. Milton Lodge and Kathleen McGraw. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Rahn, Wendy M., John H. Aldrich, and Eugene Borgida. 1994. "Individual and Contextual Variations in Political Candidate Appraisal." American Political Science Review 88:193-199.
- Rahn, Wendy M., Jon A. Krosnick, and Marijke Breuning. 1994. "Rationalization and Derivation Processes in Survey Studies of Political Candidate Evaluation." American Journal of Political Science 38:582-600.
- Rahn, Wendy M. 1993. "The Role of Partisan Stereotypes in Information Processing about Political Candidates." American Journal of Political Science 37:472-496.
- Sullivan, John L., John H. Aldrich, Eugene Borgida, and Wendy Rahn. 1990. "Candidate Appraisal and Human Nature: Man and Superman in the '84 Election." Political Psychology 11:459-484.
- Marcus, George E. and Wendy Rahn. 1990. "Emotions and Democratic Politics." In Research in Micropolitics, vol. 3, ed. Samuel Long, pp. 20-57. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
- Rahn, Wendy M., John H. Aldrich, Eugene Borgida, and John L. Sullivan. 1990. "A Social Cognitive Model of Candidate Appraisal." In Information and Democratic Processes, ed. John A. Ferejohn and James H. Kuklinski, pp. 136-159. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Reprinted in Controversies in Voting Behavior, 3rd edition. Ed. Richard G. Niemi and Herbert F. Weisberg, pp. 187-206. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly.
Research Activities
- Citizen Investors: The Democratization of the Stock Market and the Transformation of American Politics: Russell Sage Foundation Grant to study the political implications of broadened participation in the stock market, August 1, 2007 - December 31, 2011
Professional Activities
- Executive Council, Midwest Political Science Association: 1994 - 1997
- National Election Studies (NES) Board of Overseers: 1996 - 2004
- Co-Editor, Political Psychology: Journal of the International Society of Political Psychology , 1996 - 2004
Outreach Activities
- Founder and President, Survivors' Training: http://www.survivorstraining.org
Awards
- Erik H. Erikson Award for Distinguished Early Career Contribution to Political Psychology, 1999
- Emerging Scholar Award, The Organized Section on Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior, 1999
- Changemaker of the Year, Minnesota Women's Press, 2008
- Spirit of Collaboration Award, Minnesota Cancer Alliance, 2009
Courses Taught
- Introduction to American National Government (American Democracy in a Changing World)
- Elections and Voting Behavior
- Public Opinion
- Campaign Practicum
- Introduction to Political Psychology
- Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Political Behavior
- Introduction to Political Analysis
- Introduction to Politics
- American Political Culture and Values
- Political Polarization
- Graduate Seminar in Political Psychology
- Graduate Seminar on Public Opinion and Participation
- Graduate Seminar on Social Capital
- American Politics Core Seminar
Alternative Output Formats
