Varsity Don Proposes Psychological Tests For Political Contestants

Ahead of the 2027 basic elections, a professor of psychology on the University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Benjamin Ehigie, has referred to as for a psychological check to find out the psychological states of political contestants and their applicable placement into political positions.

At a press convention to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Department of Psychology yesterday, the college don harassed that the “discipline of psychology plays a strategic, multi-faceted role in Nigeria’s socioeconomic, cultural, and structural development”

“Psychological exams could possibly be used to find out the psychological states of political contestants and their applicable placement into political positions.

“Psychological testing and psychometric profiling play an more and more vital position in elections, shifting from conventional demographic analysis to algorithmic micro-targeting and predictive voter behaviour modelling.

“Rather than relying purely on age, income, political campaigns could use psychological tests and digital data footprints to map the underlying personality traits of the electorate, and use psychological tests to determine the mental states of political contestants, and appropriate placement into political positions.”

Also talking, the Head of the Department of Psychology, Professor Aderemi Alarape, tasked the federal authorities with investing within the psychology of radicalisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration as a method to remedy the issues of banditry, insurgency, and communal strife.

While noting that “The government must integrate behavioural and psychological insights into public policy-making”, Professor Alarape mentioned Nigeria should start to deal with the human thoughts as the best and most important nationwide useful resource.

He proposed the “Psychology for National Transformation (PNT) Agenda” to unravel issues going through Nigeria.

“For too lengthy, Nigeria has targeted closely on bodily infrastructure whereas neglecting psychological infrastructure. We have targeted on kinetic approaches to safety whereas underutilising non-kinetic, psychological methods.

“We have tried financial reforms with out understanding the behavioural and cognitive boundaries that maintain residents in poverty.

“The authorities should combine behavioural and psychological insights into public policy-making. The challenges of banditry, insurgency, and communal strife cannot be solved by the barrel of the gun alone.

“We should spend money on the psychology of radicalisation, rehabilitation, and reintegration. Furthermore, the federal government should set up a National Behavioural Insights Unit to make sure that insurance policies (from taxation to well being campaigns) are designed with a deep understanding of human behaviour and decision-making.

“Our society is more and more fractious. We suggest a nationwide scaling of psychological interventions that promote empathy, perspective-taking, and the Contact Hypothesis.

“We should actively dismantle the psychological roots of tribalism and prejudice by creating shared targets and fostering emotional intelligence.

“We should combine college psychology and psychological well being counselling into our academic system to fight examination malpractice, cultism, and the rising epidemic of melancholy and suicide amongst younger individuals.

“A mentally healthy student population is the engine of national development”, he added.

On the position of alumni within the growth of the Department of Psychology, University of Ibadan, Professor Nyitor Shenge urged alumni to be concerned within the areas of monetary growth, educational growth, infrastructural growth, mentorship and employment, governance and advocacy, foyer the federal government for grants that may be helpful to the division, and function model ambassadors

According to him, “alumni are an indispensable partner in every academic institution in a competitive world”.