Personality in Politics - Traits and Basic Values

Political behaviour is not random. When we choose to participate in politics, to vote for certain parties and political actors, or even to stand for office, we are often making decisions based upon cognitive and affective calculations. Sometimes these are conscious, sometimes they are subconscious. Yet more often than not, they reflect the myriad characteristics that make up our personalities. Two particularly influential and commonly used theories of personality are traits and basic values. This reading list will introduce you to both theories, the ways they are measured, and the insights that they can provide about a range of political behaviours.

Introduction to the topic:

Caprara, G.V, and Vecchione, M. (2013). Personality Approaches to Political Behaviour. In L. Huddy, D. Sears, and J. Levy (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 23-58.

Category 1: Personality traits and Basic Values – definitions and measurement.

Schwartz, S. H., Melech, G., Lehmann, A., Burgess, S., Harris, M., and Owens, V. (2001). Extending the cross-cultural validity of the theory of basic human values with a different method of measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 32(5): 519–542 

McCrae, R.R., Gaines, J.F., and Wellington, M.A. (2012). The Five-Factor Model in Fact and Fiction. In I.B. Weiner, H.A. Tennen, J.M. Suls, and I. Weiner (eds.), Handbook of Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 65-92.

Parks-Leduc, L, Feldman, G and Bardi, A. (2015). Personality Traits and Personal Values: A Meta-Analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 19(1): 3 –29.

Sagiv, L., and Roccas, S. (2017). What Personal Values Are and What They Are Not: Taking a Cross-Cultural Perspective. In S. Roccas and L. Sagiv (eds.), Values and Behaviour: Taking a Cross Cultural Perspective. Springer International Publishing. pp. 3-13.

Borg, I. (2019). Age- and gender-related differences in the structure and the meaning of personal values. Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 138: 336-343.

Category 2: Personality and political elites – who enters politics and why?

Caprara, G. V., and Silvester, J. (2018). Personality and political elites. In H. Best, J. P. Daloz, and U. Hoffman-Lange. (eds.). Palgrave handbook of political elites. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nørgaard, A.S., and Klemmensen R. (2018). The personalities of Danish MPs: Trait- and aspect- level differences. Journal of Personality, Vol. 00: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12388.

Wyatt, M. and Silvester, J. (2018). Do voters get it right? A test of the ascription-actuality trait theory of leadership with political elites. The Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 29(5): 609–621.

Scott, C., and Medeiros, M. (2019). Personality and political careers: What personality types are likely to run for office and get elected? Personality and Individual Differences. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109600.

Weinberg, J. (2020). Who Enters Politics and Why? Basic Human Values in the UK Parliament. Bristol University Press. Especially chapters 2 and 3.

Category 3: Personality and political participation – attitudes and engagement.

Vecchione, M., and Caprara, G. V. (2009). Personality determinants of political participation: The contribution of traits and self-efficacy beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 46(4): 487–492.

Mondak, J. J. (2010). Personality and the foundations of political behaviour. Cambridge University Press.

Gerber, A.S., Huber, G.A., Doherty, D., Dowling, C.M., Raso, C., and Ha, S.E. (2011). Personality Traits and Participation in Political Processes. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 73(3): 692-706.

Vecchione, M., Schwartz, S., Caprara, G., Schoen, H., Cieciuch, J., Silvester, J., Bain, P., Bianchi, G., Kirmanoglu, H., Baslevent, C., Mamali, C., Manzi, J., Pavlopoulos, V., Posnova, T., Torres, C., Verkasalo, M., Lönnqvist, J., Vondráková, E., Welzel, C. and Alessandri, G. (2015). Personal values and political activism: A cross-national study. British Journal of Psychology, Vol. 106(1): 84-106.

Lindell, M. and Strandberg, K. (2018). A Participatory Personality? Examining the Influence of Personality Traits on Political Participation. Scandinavian Political Studies, Vol. 41: 239-262.

Category 4: Personality and partisanship.

Caprara, G. V., and Zimbardo, P. (2004). Personalizing politics: A congruency model of political preference. American Psychologist, Vol. 59: 581–594.

Schoen, H., and Schumann, S. (2007). Personality traits, partisan attitudes, and voting behaviour: Evidence from Germany. Political Psychology, Vol. 28: 471-498.

Gerber, A.S., Huber, G.A., Doherty, D., and Dowling, C.M. (2012). Personality and the Strength and Direction of Partisan Identification. Political Behaviour, Vol. 34: 653–688.

Fatke, M. (2016). Personality traits and political Ideology: A first global assessment. Political Psychology, Vol. 38: 881–899.

Weinberg, J. (2020). Who Enters Politics and Why? Basic Human Values in the UK Parliament. Bristol University Press. See chapter 4.