The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders1968 Tet Offensive, however, the limits of American success and
power became clear and Johnson decided not to seek reelection. At
this time, his explanatory style score moved down into the pes-
simistic or depressive range. These results are intriguing, but only
further research can determine whether optimism leads to a
specifically aggressive foreign policy or merely to a zestful and per-
sistent pursuit of any foreign policy.
Studies of several world leaders (Churchill, Hitler, Franklin Roo-
sevelt, Stalin, George H. W. Bush, and Saddam Hussein) by Sat-
terfield (1998; see also Satterfield and Seligman 1994) suggest that
an optimistic explanatory style, especially if combined with low
integrative complexity, is associated with risky, aggressive policies,
actions, and events.
Mental Functioning and the Rorschach Test
While the Rorschach inkblot test has often been claimed to measure
all sorts of psychological characteristics, including even ends or goals
or motives (Zillmer et al. 1995, 60), most psychologists would argue
that it reflects the structure of the mind or a wide variety of processes
of mental functioning: complexity, accuracy, abstraction and inte-
gration, conventionality, capacity for fantasy and inner reflection,
anxiety, introspection, and emotional regulation (73—74). While the
best methods of administration and interpretation of the Rorschach
test are debated, and while the test has not been used often in assess-
ing political leaders, the Rorschach-based study of Nazi leaders (car-
ried out at Nurnberg in 1945—46 but not fully reported until several
decades later; see Zillmer et al. 1995) is a noteworthy study that
illustrates considerable variation in intelligence and mental func-
tioning among different Nazi leaders.
A further study of Rudolf Hoess, the first commandant of the
Auschwitz extermination camp, combines Rorschach interpretation
with a novel technique of proxy administration of a personality test
(see Ritzier and Singer 1998). In this instance, two psychologists
thoroughly familiar with the details of Hoess's life took the Min-
nesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) as if they were
Hoess (see also the study by Rubenzer, Faschingbauer, and Ones
2000, discussed later).