USPP
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
Abstract
Provisional Personality Profile of 2008 Democratic Presidential Contender John Edwards
Aubrey Immelman, Julie
Seifert, and Anthony Odland
St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
Dept. of Psychology
St. Joseph, MN 56374, U.S.A.
This research report presents the results of a preliminary analysis of the personality of former North Carolina senator John Edwards, contender for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Information concerning Sen. Edwards was collected from biographical sources and published reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the second edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with Axis II of DSM–IV.
The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines in the MIDC manual. Edwards’ primary personality patterns were found to be Outgoing/congenial and Accommodating/cooperative, with secondary features of the Ambitious/confident and Conscientious/respectful patterns.
The major implication of the study is that it offers an empirically based personological framework for inferring Sen. Edwards’s likely leadership style as president.
Page maintained by Aubrey Immelman
http://www.csbsju.edu/uspp/Edwards/Edwards_Personality-Profile_2007.html
Last updated December 15, 2007