The Psychology of Brexit

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

   PDF

2. Brexit as Psychodrama

   • Brian M. Hughes

   Pages 1-22

3. Reasoning Through Brexit

   • Brian M. Hughes

   Pages 23-63

4. The Brexit People

   • Brian M. Hughes

   Pages 65-96

5. Brexit Anxiety

   • Brian M. Hughes

   Pages 97-120

6. Learning from Brexit

   • Brian M. Hughes

   Pages 121-152

7. Back Matter

   Pages 153-180

   PDF

The Psychology of Brexit examines the psychological causes, catalysts, and consequences of Brexit. Unlike most cultural upheavals, Brexit is not the result of accidental tragedy or spontaneous economic turmoil. Rather, it exists because people decided to make it exist. It is a product of human psychology – shaped in critical ways by people’s perceptions, preferences, choices, self-images, attitudes, ideas, assumptions, group relations, and reasoned (or ill-reasoned) conclusions. 


This book discusses how reasoning biases and illusions of control propel – and pollute – the perspective of both Leavers and Remainers. It shows how social stereotypes and motivated irrationality help otherwise groundless beliefs thrive in everyday culture, leading to group polarisation and echo-chamber reasoning. It reveals the way cultural biases like sexism influence how Brexit politicians are portrayed and perceived. And it explores the psychological impact of Brexit – its effect on social attitudes, future thinking, and collective and individual mental health. 


In this compelling new book, psychologist Brian Hughes examines what scientific psychology reveals about the dynamics of Brexit, what Brexit teaches us about ourselves, and what we can do to deal with its short-term impact and long-term fallout. 

• mental health
• Political psychology
• Public Health
• Brexit
• psychological stress
• well-being
• social cohesion
• political populism
• group polarization
• groupthink
• false consensus
• optimism biases
• psychodrama
• cognitive dissonance
• social stereotypes
• echo-chamber reasoning
• causal attribution errors
• popular science
• popular psychology
• British Politics

• School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland

  Brian M. Hughes

Brian M. Hughes is Professor of Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. He is former President of the Psychological Society of Ireland (2004-2005), and of the international Stress and Anxiety Research Society (2014-2016) and is Associate Editor of the International Journal of Psychophysiology. He is a prominent advocate for scientific psychology, evidence-based policy, scientific outreach, and the role of psychology in society, and writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, and medicine. His previous books include: Psychology in Crisis (2018) and Rethinking Psychology (2017).

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