Personality Profiles of 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates

Aubrey Immelman and his summer research assistant Joe Trenzeluk present summaries of the psychological profiles of Republican contenders in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (including Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, and Scott Walker) and outline the leadership implications of those profiles. In addition, the presenters discuss the personality profile of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and compare the candidates’ scores on the locally developed Personal [Presidential] Electability Index (PEI). The PEI, which has accurately predicted the outcome of every presidential election since 1996, projects that Trump will win the election

The Political Personality of 2020 Democratic Presidential Contender Bernie Sanders

This working paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. senator Bernie Sanders — a contender for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election — from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Information concerning Sanders was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5. The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Sanders’s primary personality pattern was found to be Dominant/asserting, complemented by secondary Dauntless/adventurous and Ambitious/confident patterns and infused with a Contentious/resolute tendency. Based on his overall personality configuration, Sanders may be characterized as a deliberative nonconformist: tough, strong-willed, and outspoken; fearless, daring, and attracted to challenge; self-confident, persuasive, and competitive; and resolute, with a strong oppositional streak. As president, leaders with Sanders’s personality profile can be expected be deliberative but low on interpersonality (more aloof than interactive), temperamentally active–negative, and more skilled in mobilizing supporters than in consummating policy objectives

Recovered Memory of Childhood Sexual Abuse

This article examines the psychological basis for repression and recovery of traumatic memories, presents the results of research on potential sources of error in delayed or recovered memories, and offers possible reasons (primarily related to clinical practice and collective behavior) for false accusations of sexual abuse

The Political Personality of U.S. Vice President Al Gore

This paper presents the results of an indirect psychodiagnostic assessment of the political personality of U.S. vice president Al Gore, Democratic nominee in the 2000 presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon. Information concerning Al Gore was collected from published biographical and autobiographical accounts and political reports in the print media, and synthesized into personality profiles using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM-IV. The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Vice President Gore was found to be Conscientious/dutiful and Retiring/aloof. A dimensional reconceptualization of the results to examine convergences among the present Millon-based findings, Simonton’s dimensions of presidential style, and the five-factor model of personality suggests that Gore is highly deliberative/conscientious, somewhat lacking in interpersonality/agreeableness, and low in charisma/extraversion. In terms of Renshon’s elements of character, Gore’s profile suggests that his ambition is rooted in a sense of duty; that his character integrity is well consolidated; and that his interpersonal relatedness is marked more by detachment than by a tendency to move toward, away from, or against others. Al Gore’s major personality-based leadership strengths are his conscientiousness, a detail-oriented ability to craft specific policies, and low susceptibility to ethical misconduct. His major limitations are his disdain for social interaction, his lack of spontaneity and personableness (with an associated deficit of important political skills crucial for mobilizing and retaining popular support), and his self-defeating potential for dogmatically pursuing personal policy preferences despite legislative or public disapproval

The Political Personality of U.S. President George W. Bush

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. president George W. Bush, conducted 1998–2000 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Psychodiagnostically relevant data regarding Bush was extracted from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV. The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Bush was found to be Outgoing/gregarious and Dominant/controlling. A dimensional reconceptualization of the results to examine convergences among the present Millon-based findings, Simonton’s dimensions of presidential style, and the five-factor model of personality suggests that Bush is highly charismatic/extraverted and somewhat interpersonal/agreeable, but not very deliberative/conscientious. George W. Bush’s major personality-based leadership strengths are his skills in connecting with critical constituencies and mobilizing popular support, and his ability to retain a following and his self-confidence in the face of adversity. His major limitations include propensities for a superficial grasp of complex issues, acting impulsively, and favoring personal connections, friendship, and loyalty over competence in his staffing decisions and appointments

The Political Personality of 2016 Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Democratic nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The present report combines data from five studies conducted between 1998 and 2016 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Clinton was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV. The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed in accordance with interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Clinton’s predominant personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/self-serving (a measure of narcissism) and Dominant/controlling, infused with secondary features of the Conscientious/dutiful and Retiring/reserved patterns and some indication of Distrusting/suspicious features. In summary, Clinton’s personality composite can be labeled elitist narcissism, or, in political terms, as the profile of a deliberative high-dominance introvert — deliberative by virtue of her substantial conscientiousness. Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and often act as though entitled. Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they are tough and unsentimental and often make effective leaders. Conscientious leaders are dutiful and diligent, with a strong work ethic and careful attention to detail, and often excel in crafting public policy. On the downside, conscientious leaders often lack the retail political skills required to consummate their policy objectives. In short, they are more technocratic than visionary. Retiring (introverted) individuals tend not to develop strong ties to others, are somewhat deficient in the ability to recognize the needs or feelings of others, and may lack spontaneity and vitality. In American politics, introverted leaders face serious challenges in attaining high-level public office because of their difficulty in connecting emotionally with voters and the media. Clinton’s major personality strengths in a political role are her confident assertiveness and commanding demeanor. Her major personality-based shortcomings are uncompromising assertiveness, a lack of empathy and congeniality, and cognitive inflexibility. The major implication of the study is that it offers an empirically based personological framework for identifying Clinton’s major personal strengths and limitations as a candidate and anticipating her likely leadership style as president

South Africa\u27s Long March to Freedom: A Personal View

In this article I first offer a brief historical account of European white settlement, and ultimately political dominance, in southern Africa. Next, I outline how whites, and in particular Afrikaner-dominated National Party governments after 1948, achieved almost total subjugation of South Africa’s black majority through oppressive legislation and the calculated use of force. In that regard I enumerate some of the draconian laws enacted in the post-1948 apartheid state — laws that served as an impetus for black nationalism, anger, resistance, protest and, after 1960, armed struggle to achieve liberation from white oppression. Against this background, I examine salient factors accounting for South Africa’s relatively peaceful transition from apartheid state to nonracial democracy, focusing on situational variables as well as the personal characteristics of South African presidents P.W. Botha, F.W. de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela

Waco Tragedy Product of Groupthink

This opinion column employs the eight symptoms of groupthink specified by Irving Janis to evaluate whether the tragic end to the 1993 FBI siege of David Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas — which culminated in deaths of 76 civilians — could have been the product of groupthink

The Leadership Style of North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un

This working paper presents a personality-based analysis of the likely leadership style of Chairman Kim Jong-un, supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in negotiations with U.S. president Donald Trump, inferred from the results of indirect personality assessments conducted 2013–2018 from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Kim’s primary personality patterns were found to be Outgoing/gregarious and Dominant/controlling, supplemented by secondary Accommodating/cooperative, Ambitious/confident, and Dauntless/adventurous features. Outgoing individuals are dramatic attention‑getters who thrive on being the center of social events, go out of their way to be popular with others, and are confident in their social skills; they may have an impulsive tendency and be prone to boredom. Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they can be tough and unsentimental and often make effective leaders. Accommodating individuals are cordial, cooperative, and amicable; they are polite, respectful, and agreeable, willing to adapt their preferences to reconcile differences, and to concede or compromise when necessary to achieve peaceable solutions. Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and may act as though entitled. Dauntless individuals tend to flout tradition, conventional standards, and cultural mores, dislike following routine, and may act impulsively and recklessly; they are resistant to coercion and may exhibit a strong need for autonomy and self-determination. It may be inferred on the basis of his primary Outgoing personality pattern, infused with secondary Accommodating qualities, that in the absence of strong situational constraints Kim will be inclined to congenial–cooperative behavior in negotiations; a generalized expectancy for leaders with this particular psychological predisposition is to behave in a manner that is gracious, jovial, socially gregarious, agreeable, accommodating, and obliging in relating to others, with an underlying attitude of benevolence and neighborliness and a pre­ference for avoiding conflict and seeking harmony with others. Framed in terms of heuristic leadership models in political psychology, Kim appears to be temperamentally active-positive, with an active-independent orientation to foreign affairs and high-dominance extraversion as his preferred operating style in the international system