A tribute to the legacy of John L. Sullivan

Chapter 1 considers the unique contributions of John L. Sullivan to the field of political psychology through his own innovative research, his efforts to build the first of its kind Center for the Study of Political Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and his profound impact as mentor to generations of students during his career. Sullivan’s work has brought together theory and methodologies from both political science and psychology to transform the way we think about the nature of political tolerance and the essence of ideological belief systems in mass publics. This work employs innovative and influential measurement and methodological strategies such as the “least liked group” methodology and individual differences scaling. John’s work and his talent as a mentor influenced a number of distinguished political psychologists whose own work continues the themes that Sullivan and colleagues developed. These works have continued to develop our psychological understanding of political tolerance and its role in Democratic life, as well as how ideology informs (or does not inform) the structure of citizens’ political attitudes and beliefs.