The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaderssensitive analysis by the Georges (1956) of the impact of Woodrow
Wilson's formative childhood and adult experiences on his substan-
tial political accomplishments is an exemplar of such analysis.
Derived from psychoanalytic theory, the present framework for
the analysis of presidential candidates and others leaders (developed
in Renshon 1996a, 1996b) is guided by several considerations.
Among these is the consideration to develop a framework for analyz-
ing character psychology (i) that focuses on a character's nature and
specific content rather than argues its importance primarily on its
dynamic functioning; (2) that does not require information only
available, if at all, in a psychotherapeutic setting; and (3) in which
the theory of character and psychological functioning could be
directly and plausibly linked with the analysis of leadership perfor-
mance.
Character as a Framework for the Analysis
of Presidential Performance
The term character is derived from the Greek word ;(CCpcCKTr|p, which
means "engraving." Allport (1961, 2—3), in his classic work on per-
sonality theory, defines character as "a person's patterns of traits or
his lifestyle." He distinguishes the term character from personality.
According to Allport, personality denotes "appearance, visible
behavior, surface quality," while character implies "deep (perhaps
inborn), fixed and basic structure." Baudry reaffirms that the term
character refers to
the broadest grouping of stable, typical traits by which we rec-
ognize a particular person. Our concept of character is made
necessary that we find in individuals reoccurring clusters of
trait with a degree of consistency suggesting that some under-
lying principles govern the selection, ordering and relations of
these traits to one another. (1989, 656)
The early understanding of character reflected three basic clinical
observations: (i) it was central to an individual's psychological and
social functioning, (2) its consequences could be observed in stable
patterns of public behavior, and (3) it was present and observable in
diverse circumstances, though, contrary to the views of some "situa-
tional psychologists," each character element is not required to be