The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders: With Profiles of Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton

The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders: With Profiles of Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton
Jerrold M. Post (Editor)
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Propaganda & Political Psychology

In an age when world affairs are powerfully driven by personality, politics require an understanding of what motivates political leaders such as Hussein, Bush, Blair, and bin Laden. Through exacting case studies and the careful sifting of evidence, Jerrold Post and his team of contributors lay out an effective system of at-a-distance evaluation. Observations from political psychology, psycholinguistics and a range of other disciplines join forces to produce comprehensive political and psychological profiles, and a deeper understanding of the volatile influences of personality on global affairs.

Even in this age of free-flowing global information, capital, and people, sovereign states and boundaries remain the hallmark of the international order -- a fact which is especially clear from the events of September 11th and the War on Terrorism.

Jerrold M. Post, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology, and International Affairs, and Director of the Political Psychology Program at George Washington University. He is the founder of the CIA's Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior.

• Rank: #548526 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.34" h x 6.08" w x 9.00" l, 1.72 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Personality and the Foundations of Political Behavior (Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology)

Personality and the Foundations of Political Behavior (Cambridge Studies in Public Opinion and Political Psychology)
Jeffery J. Mondak (Author)
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Propaganda & Political Psychology

Personality and the Foundations of Political Behavior is the first study in more than 30 years to investigate the broad significance of personality traits for mass political behavior. Drawing on the Big Five personality trait framework, Jeffery J. Mondak argues that attention to personality provides a valuable means to integrate biological and environmental influences in rich, nuanced theories and empirical tests of the antecedents of political behavior. Development of such holistic accounts is critical, Mondak contends, if inquiry is to move beyond simple "blank slate" environmental depictions of political engagement. Analyses examining multiple facets of political information, political attitudes, and participation reveal that the Big Five trait dimensions - openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability - produce both direct and indirect effects on a wide range of political phenomena.

• Rank: #29122 in Books
• Published on: 2010-06-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.78" h x 5.83" w x .51" l, .75 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 246 pages

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation

The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation
Drew Westen (Author)
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Propaganda & Political Psychology

The Political Brain is a groundbreaking investigation into the role of emotion in determining the political life of the nation. For two decades Drew Westen, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Emory University, has explored a theory of the mind that differs substantially from the more "dispassionate" notions held by most cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and economists—and Democratic campaign strategists. The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works. When political candidates assume voters dispassionately make decisions based on "the issues," they lose. That's why only one Democrat has been re-elected to the presidency since Franklin Roosevelt—and only one Republican has failed in that quest.

In politics, when reason and emotion collide, emotion invariably wins. Elections are decided in the marketplace of emotions, a marketplace filled with values, images, analogies, moral sentiments, and moving oratory, in which logic plays only a supporting role. Westen shows, through a whistle-stop journey through the evolution of the passionate brain and a bravura tour through fifty years of American presidential and national elections, why campaigns succeed and fail. The evidence is overwhelming that three things determine how people vote, in this order: their feelings toward the parties and their principles, their feelings toward the candidates, and, if they haven't decided by then, their feelings toward the candidates' policy positions.

Westen turns conventional political analyses on their head, suggesting that the question for Democratic politics isn't so much about moving to the right or the left but about moving the electorate. He shows how it can be done through examples of what candidates have said—or could have said—in debates, speeches, and ads. Westen's discoveries could utterly transform electoral arithmetic, showing how a different view of the mind and brain leads to a different way of talking with voters about issues that have tied the tongues of Democrats for much of forty years—such as abortion, guns, taxes, and race. You can't change the structure of the brain. But you can change the way you appeal to it. And here's how…

• Rank: #62622 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 8.27" h x 1.26" w x 5.51" l, 1.04 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages