Michael MacKuen is a Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Over the years, his work has focused on both the broader macro political system (in the US) and also on the political psychology of individuals. His current projects include a series of articles concerning the way that political emotion and personality play into the dynamics of citizen political attention and the beginnings of political deliberation. He is also working on a project that means to elaborate on the ways that, when they consider the role of government, ordinary people balance individual and family self-interest against a broader sense of public altruism.