Professor Federico's primary interest is in political psychology. In particular, he is interested in how a number of factors — namely, people’s values and beliefs, the structural characteristics of their social environments, and their ability and willingness to use political information — interact to shape perceptions of the political world and attitudes toward objects in it. Currently, his research is centered on three specific topics: (1) racial attitudes, (2) attitude structure and belief systems, and (3) the nature of the interface between motivation and ideological affinity.

Professor Federico is also the current Director of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Primary Interests:

Attitudes and Beliefs
Ethics and Morality
Group Processes
Intergroup Relations
Political Psychology
Prejudice and Stereotyping
Research Methods, Assessment
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Attitudes and Beliefs
Ethics and Morality
Group Processes
Intergroup Relations
Political Psychology

Prejudice and Stereotyping
Research Methods, Assessment
Self and Identity
Social Cognition

Books:

Borgida, E., Federico, C. M., & Sullivan, J. L. (2009). The political psychology of democratic citizenship. New York: Oxford University Press.

Journal Articles:

Federico, C. M. (2007). Expertise, evaluative motivation, and the structure of citizens’ ideological commitments. Political Psychology, 28, 535-562.
Federico, C. M. (2006). Ideology and the affective structure of whites’ racial perceptions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 70, 327-353.
Federico, C. M. (2006). Race, education, and individualism revisited. Journal of Politics, 68, 600-610.
Federico, C. M. (2005). Racial perceptions and evaluative responses to welfare: Does education attenuate race-of-target effects? Political Psychology, 26, 683-698.
Federico, C. M. (2004). Predicting attitude extremity: The interactive effects of schema development and the need to evaluate – and their mediation by evaluative integration. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1281-1294.
Federico, C. M. (2004). When do welfare attitudes become racialized? The paradoxical effects of education. American Journal of Political Science, 48, 374-391.
Federico, C. M., Golec, A., & Dial, J. (2005). The relationship between need for closure and support for military action against Iraq: Moderating effects of national attachment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 621-632.
Federico, C. M., & Holmes, J. W. (2005). Education and the interface between racial attitudes and criminal-justice attitudes. Political Psychology, 26, 47-76.
Federico, C. M., & Schneider, M. (2007). Political expertise and the use of ideology: Moderating effects of evaluative motivation. Public Opinion Quarterly, 71, 221-252.
Federico, C. M., & Sidanius, J. (2002). Racism, ideology, and affirmative action, revisited: The antecedents and consequences of ‘principled objections’ to affirmative action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 488-502.
Golec, A., & Federico, C. M. (2004). Understanding responses to political conflict: Interactive effects of the need for closure and salient conflict schemas. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 750-762.
Golec de Zavala, A., Federico, C. M., Cislak, A., & Sigger, J. (2008). Need for closure and conflict-strategy preferences: Experimental evidence for the moderating role of salient conflict schemas. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 84-105.

Other Publications:

Federico, C. M., & Goren, P. (2009). Motivated social cognition and ideology: Is attention to elite discourse a prerequisite for epistemically motivated political affinities? In J. T. Jost, A. C. Kay, and H. Thorisdottir (Eds.), Social and psychological bases of ideology and system justification. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jost, J. T., Federico, C. M., & Napier, J. L. (2009). Ideology: Its structure and functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 307-337.

Courses Taught:

Analysis of Psychological Data
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Social Psychology
Proseminar: Research in Social Psychology
Race and Politics
Social Psychology of Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Analysis of Psychological Data
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Social Psychology

Proseminar: Research in Social Psychology
Race and Politics
Social Psychology of Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Christopher M. Federico
Department of Psychology
University of Minnesota
75 E. River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States

Phone: (612) 626-0560
Fax: (612) 626-2079