Matt Pryor

My name is Matt Pryor and I am a Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. I also am the Director of the Honors Program as well as a department adviser.

My research agenda in political psychology and American politics examines how health issues affect individual behavior, attitudes, and opinion. Compared with the chronically ill, if healthy people are more likely to tum out and also have different policy preferences, then electoral results and the policies that are put into action might display a "health bias".  I am interested in the ways in which health differences among citizens may affect the quality of democratic representation. If people with chronic health conditions are less apt to vote than their healthier counterparts, there is the potential for “representational distortion”. 

A second stream of work involves examining the political implications of chronic health issues of the gut. Stomach health is extremely important due to the role of the gut in the development of personality and behavior, including bidirectional communication between the gut microbiome and the brain. I am also interested in the intersection of chronobiology, health, and politics.

I have taught courses in American Politics, The Supreme Court, Political Psychology, Elections and Campaigns, Senior Honors Thesis, and Health Politics.