Title

The Personality Profile and Leadership Style of China’s President Xi Jinping

Authors

Aubrey Immelman, St. John's University / College of St. BenedictFollow
Yunyiyi Chen, College of St. Benedict

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

7-2021

Disciplines

Asian Studies | Defense and Security Studies | International Relations | Leadership Studies | Other Political Science | Other Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts

Abstract

This report presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality and leadership style of China’s president, Xi Jinping, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Xi were 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. Xi’s primary personality pattern was found to be Dominant/controlling (a measure of aggressiveness), complemented by secondary Conscientious/respectful and Ambitious/confident (benignly narcissistic) patterns and subsidiary Accommodating (conciliatory) and Dauntless (risk-taking) features.

The concurrently elevated Dominant and Conscientious pattern in Xi’s overall personality configuration is indicative of an aggressive enforcer personality composite. Leaders with this personality prototype are tough, uncompromising, and believe they have a moral duty to punish and control those who deviate from socially sanctioned norms.

Leaders with Xi’s personality profile are likely to exhibit a deliberative leadership style; they are well informed, exhibit depth of comprehension, are able to visualize alternatives and weigh long-term consequences, understand the implications of their decisions, and are cautious and emotionally controlled.

Based on his personality profile, Xi’s foreign policy orientation is anticipated to be primarily that of a high-dominance introvert with an expansionist orientation, characterized by a tendency to dichotomize the world in terms of moral good vs. evil, tenacity in striving to reshape the international system in accordance with his personal vision, and preoccupation with establishing institutions or principles to keep potentially disruptive forces in check.

Comments

The full text of the paper will be available for download by September 2023, pending validity checks: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/141/

The research was conducted at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics (USPP), a collaborative faculty–student research program in the psychology of politics at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict in Collegeville and St. Joseph, Minnesota, USA, directed by Aubrey Immelman, PhD, associate professor of psychology, who specializes in the psychological assessment of presidential candidates and world leaders.

The research was funded by the Office of Undergraduate Research & Scholars at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University.

More information and updates: http://personality-politics.org/china/

Copyright Statement

Copyright © 2021 by Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics / Aubrey Immelman

Recommended Citation

Immelman, A., & Chen, Y. (2021, July). The personality profile and leadership style of China’s President Xi Jinping. PowerPoint presentation at the 44th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, July 11–13, 2021 (virtual conference). https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/141