Psychology in Science Court

Last week, the University of Minnesota’s Science Court hosted Kerri Miller of MPR News to shed some light on the case of fighting political polarization through mandatory national service. Science Court is a project housed in the Honors Program that is designed to address social issues by using scientific knowledge. This year their topic is political polarization in the United States. While the course is interdisciplinary, psychology certainly plays a major role in informing the research.

University of Minnesota psychology graduate student, Lauren Clatch, explains how the goal of Science Court is to create a space for students of diverse educational backgrounds to confront a social issue through the lens of many academic disciplines, including psychology. Many of the social issues that students have studied have been informed by the psychological sciences. For Clatch, she feels that her background in psychology has prepared her for a mentorship role to teach students “the power and potential of the scientific method to answer difficult questions about what’s best for society.”


Composed by Flora Pollack, communications assistant.