Assessing Leaders at a Distanceprojection. This primitive, most seriously disordered pattern is asso-
ciated with paranoid psychoses and severe paranoid disorders. In con-
trast, the obsessive-compulsive personality pattern, which will be
described in detail shortly, is associated with a much healthier array
of ego defenses, the neurotic (intermediate) defenses, which include
dissociation, displacement, isolation (or intellectualization), repres-
sion, and reaction formation.
Identifying a characteristic pattern of ego defenses is especially
helpful in predicting behavior under stress, for it is under stress that
these coping mechanisms not only come into play but can become
exaggerated. This is particularly true in the face of serious illness
(Post and Robins 1993) and with increasing age (Post 1973). As peo-
ple grow older, they do not mellow but become more like them-
selves, a veritable self-caricature. Thus the somewhat compulsive
individual whose decision making was unimpaired in the early and
middle decades can become paralyzed by indecision in the later
years. This is apt to be particularly problematic in the face of a crisis,
when, searching for certainty, an individual is required to make a
decision in the face of ambiguous or conflicting information. The
suspicious individual can become frankly paranoid under stress.
Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria, the Soviet secret-police chief, was able to
manipulate Stalin's paranoid tendencies to advantage himself by
eliminating rivals. As with the case of Stalin and Beria, personality
significantly colors interpersonal relationships and thus can
significantly distort relationships within the leadership circle. The
fragile narcissist whose ego is intolerant of criticism may be impelled
to surround himself with sycophants who can significantly distort
his appreciation of political reality.
In exaggerated caricatured form, each of these patterns of person-
ality organization can be psychologically disabling, at which time
they would be considered personality disorders. The essential features
of personality disorders, according to the standard psychiatric diag-
nostic reference,
are deeply ingrained, inflexible, maladaptive patterns of relat-
ing to, perceiving and thinking about the environment and
oneself that are of sufficient severity to cause either significant
impairment in adaptive functioning or subjective distress.
Thus they are pervasive personality traits and are exhibited in a