By Sean Colvin Staff writer
Though Rolfe Peterson, assistant professor of political science at Susquehanna, has been at the university for less than one academic year, he is adapting well to his new position within the political science department.
Peterson, who grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, first found interest in political science during his undergraduate studies at the University of Idaho, where he took an American government course.
During his undergraduate studies, Peterson also spent time writing about sports for the university’s newspaper.
Peterson went on to earn his doctorate degree in political science at the University of California Davis.
Peterson spent the last five years teaching political science at Mercyhurst in Eerie, Pennsylvania, before he arrived at Susquehanna in the fall of 2016.
Political Science Department Chair Michele DeMary said, “Dr. Peterson has been a welcome addition to the department. He came to [Susquehanna] with a wealth of experience and hit the ground running.”
Peterson said that his fascination in political science lies specifically in discipline of political behavior—the psychological side of politics.
Last semester in his campaigns and elections course, Peterson and his students ran an election simulation for the, then upcoming, 2017 presidential election.
“It was a pretty intense time to teach campaigns and elections,” Peterson said. “But it was fun.”
Last semester, Peterson spoke at Purdue about his predictions for the 2017 election, and before coming to Susquehanna, he spent a semester teaching abroad in Dungaran, a rural town in Ireland.
“I’ve always been drawn to individual political behavior—why people vote, why they hold partisanship, how they react to ads and media and messaging and how political psychology effects the way we interact in politics,” he said.
Peterson’s colleague Nicholas Clark, also an assistant professor of political science, said: “Dr. Peterson is a wonderful colleague with a great sense of humor. He has quickly established very close relationships with many of our students and has developed very interactive classrooms that provide students with opportunities to engage politics through simulations and other types of active learning.”
Peterson said he keeps busy by working on his own research as well as writing scholarly essays.
He has recently written on subjects like Islamophobia, the Dark Triad—the personality traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy—and its relationship to American politics and the psychology of physical attractiveness in politics.
Peterson was eager to share about his studies.
Of the latter mentioned essay, “Halo Effects and the Attractiveness Premium in Perceptions of Political Expertise,” Peterson said, “If someone is physically attractive, they’re also assumed to be happier, more honest, which isn’t necessarily true, but you imbue [those traits] in them.”
Peterson and his partner tested this theory with political science by conducting a study in which subjects were given pictures of traditionally handsome and not-so-handsome people and were asked how politically knowledgeable they believed those pictured to be.
Peterson and his partner concluded that people generally assume handsome individuals to be more politically knowledgeable than others.
Peterson will be teaching political psychology in the fall at Susquehanna.
“I teach it and I do research on it and I think about it quite a bit as well,” he said.
“I think what I’ve enjoyed a lot about Susquehanna is the amount of teacher-student interaction,” Peterson said.
He added,“For me this is the type of environment that I want to work. I can research interesting questions, but I still have a ton of interaction with students in the classroom.”
Junior Matthew Weiner, who took Peterson’s campaigns and elections course in the fall of 2016, said, “Dr. Peterson is a charismatic man who brings a level of enjoyment and desire to learn into the classroom.”
