What psychological personality tests reveal about Clinton, Obama, and McCain
Posted February 22nd, 2008 by Corey W. deVos
Slate Magazine has recently published an interesting article to their Politics section, which attempts to apply the Myers-Briggs personality typology to the top three presidential candidates: John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. What do you think? Is this sort of analysis at all useful in helping to make sense of the larger political arena?
Link. (Thanks Casey and Joe!)
"During the 2000 presidential campaign, I applied the principles of personality assessment, based on the theories of psychiatrist Carl Jung, to candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore. Forgive me if it sounds like gloating, but here's what my research revealed about the personality type of the future 43rd president of the United States: "They are decisive and little bothered by second thoughts and self-doubt." "Since [they] do not reflect very much on their errors or analyze their mistakes to any great extent, it is difficult for them to learn from their errors, and so they can become caught in a loop, repeating their mistakes."
It's time again to apply the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to our presidential candidates. (I did not include Mike Huckabee in my evaluations, because I couldn't bring myself to imagine a Huckabee administration.) The MBTI was developed by a mother-daughter team that wanted a practical application for the ideas of personality developed by Jung. By mixing and matching four poles of personal style—extravert and introvert being the best known—the women came up with 16 personality types. Read more about it here. For reference, I used two books co-authored by MBTI consultant Otto Kroeger, Type Talk and Type Talk at Work. And I relied on psychologist David Keirsey's revision of the 16 personality types. Keirsey sorted these into four overarching categories: Artisans, Guardians, Idealists, and Rationals. (He describes his classifications in the book Please Understand Me II and at this Web site, www.keirsey.com.)
Such personality testing is often derided by academia, but it's used widely by corporations, the military, and government to understand different leadership styles and the dynamics of working in groups. Finding out your personality type requires answering dozens of questions such as, "Do you find visionaries and theorists a) somewhat annoying [or] b) rather fascinating?" and "When finishing a job, do you like to a) tie up all the loose ends [or] b) move on to something else)?" Figuring the candidates wouldn't fill out their own questionnaires, I studied their biographies and came to my own conclusions."
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Personality Styles of Candidates
Thanks, Corey, for the heads up. I don't regularly read Slate but that may change. Sheesh, I'm the same personality type as Barack. Explains about my reluctance to switch my support from Kucinich to Obama as being a part of my shadow life, perhaps?
Also, the whole health care reform hubris crisis of the 90's has been my largest reason for feeling icky about Hillary. I had simply been attributing my perception to Hillary's being too masculinized (and therefore, filled with hubris). Seeing it through the lens of personality type instead of gender was helpful.
Why not test these candidates?
I once applied for a job at a newspaper for which I was subjected to four hours of psychological examinations. I once applied for a sales job in which I had to take at least as many hours of personality profile tests.
If the US presidency is truly "the hardest job in the world", why in the world don't we require applicants for the job to submit themselves to a battery of psychometric tests?
I suppose it would have to be voluntary, but at the very least if the candidates agreed to the tests they would be giving the American people useful information that could help us judge their potential job performance.
Interesting Comparison with Human Design System Results
That article and your posting made me curious to explore even more & I found the application of the Human Design System to those & other celebrities an interesting continuation of that journey of discovery...
Just as a background, Human Design System is an interesting synthesis of ancient and modern knowledge, integrating astrology, the I Ching, the Chakras and the Kabbalah. One can learn more about it humandesignsystem.com
Based on the birth data & other information here are some of the results from the HSD charts:
Obama, Barack - Projector with emotional awareness & with throat, ji & root defined centers
Clinton, Hillary - Manifestor with mental awareness & with throat, ji & sacral defined centers
Clinton, Bill - Generator with intuitive awareness & with ji, root & sacral defined centers
McCain, John - Generator with emotional awareness & with ji, sacral & heart defined centers
Mike Bloomberg - Manifestor with mental & emotional awareness & 6 centers defined
You can actually see the detailed HSD charts and more - http://www.humandesignsystem.com/introduction/3.htm
I have posted more details in my Gaia blog - http://joybringer.gaia.com/blog
You can also even get your own free basic HDS chart done online & snail mailed to you.
When lords of orange topple a red dictator, does indigo applaud?
In a recent Holons poll, If the 2008 Presidential Election were being held today, for whom would you vote?, I found several of comments "whacks" to the side of my head.
TC: "I too am swamped by green and often disguise my vote for the sake of civility and friendship while reaching downward toward orange and amber to help preserve my self absorbed friends of green from the wrath of red."
Could it be that Cheney & Company, by intigating the biggest armed robbery of this nascent new century (the oil grab in Iraq), are somehow preservers and defenders of The Spiral unfolding?
Should "integral" blogrolls be amended to include the philosophy of Leo Strauss, The Project for a New American Century, Exxon-Mobil, British Petroleum, Halliburton, Blackwater, et al?
Seeking an integral perspective on the US/British invasion and ongoing occupation of Iraq,
Robert L.
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