Political Leaders at a Distance

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Leaders have important and often surprising effects on political outcomes. However, it is difficult to understand how their personalities affect their actions and, hence, these outcomes. Psychologists lack direct access to leaders and so cannot use traditional, ways, such as interviews or psychological tests, to assess leaders’ personalities. This book discusses the development of objective and systematic methods of measuring personality at a distance, without direct contact. These measures assess and profile four fundamental elements of personality: social contexts, traits, cognitions (beliefs, values, and cognitive style), and motives. Scores of various world leaders on many of these variables are reported. Systematic research linking at-a-distance personality measures to a variety of important political outcomes is reviewed. These measures can expand understanding of the critical roles that leaders can play in history. Further applications and directions for future research in politics, history, and the humanities are suggested.</jats:p>