Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
7-1996
Disciplines
American Politics | Leadership Studies | Other Political Science | Other Psychology | Personality and Social Contexts
Abstract
This paper employs the conceptual framework of Theodore Millon to examine and compare the political personalities of President Bill Clinton and Senator Bob Dole. Information pertaining to President Clinton and Senator Dole was gathered from published material and employed to generate a personality profile using the Millon-Type Political Personality Checklist (MPPC).
The assessment revealed that President Clinton’s primarily personality patterns were Asserting/self-promoting and Outgoing/gregarious, with secondary features of the Complaining/discontented, Controlling/forceful, and Agreeing/cooperative patterns. Senator Dole’s primarily personality patterns were Controlling/aggressive and Conforming/regimented, with secondary features of the Asserting/self-promoting and Complaining/negativistic patterns.
The personality profiles yielded by the MPPC are analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the Millon Index of Personality Styles Manual. The profiles of President Clinton and Senator Dole are compared and the political implications of the two candidates’ personalities are examined with reference to their likely performance as president.
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 1996 by Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics / Aubrey Immelman
Recommended Citation
Immelman, A. (1996, July). A comparison of the political personalities of 1996 U.S. presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. Paper presented at the 19th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Vancouver, BC, June 30–July 3, 1996. Retrieved from Digital Commons website: http://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/39/
Previous Versions
Included in
American Politics Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons
Comments
This paper represents an early attempt by the author to develop a psychodiagnostically relevant conceptualization and methodology for the indirect, at-a-distance assessment of personality in politics, congruent with contemporary practice in professional psychology.
The Millon-Type Political Personality Checklist (MPPC) was substantially revised in 1999 and renamed the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC).
A revised version of this paper was published in a special issue of the journal Leadership Quarterly on “Political Leadership” edited by Dean Keith Simonton. (Retrievable from Digital Commons at http://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/3/ or EBSCOhost at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&AN=1221669&site=ehost-live)
Immelman, A. (1998). The political personalities of 1996 U.S. presidential candidates Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. The Leadership Quarterly, 9(3), 335-366. (Full text available at Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/3/)
More information and updates: http://personality-politics.org/1996-election