USPP
Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics
The Political Personality New York Senate Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Political Personality of New York Senate Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton by Aubrey Immelman & Aví A. T. Bahadoor. Research paper, Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict, April 2000. [Available upon request to academics, political psychology specialists, and professional journalists].
Abstract
This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the political personality of U.S. Senate candidate in the state of New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, from the conceptual perspective of Theodore Millon. Information concerning Hillary Clinton was collected from published biographical accounts and political reports in the print media, and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria, 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 provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Hillary Clinton’s primary personality patterns were found to be Ambitious/superior and Dominant/controlling. She also had a secondary Conscientious/dutiful pattern and some situation-specific Contentious and Distrusting features.
Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and act as though entitled. Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they are tough and unsentimental and often make effective leaders.
Hillary Clinton’s major personality strengths in a political role are her confident assertiveness and commanding presence. Her major personality-based shortcomings are a lack of empathy and congeniality, uncompromising assertiveness, and cognitive inflexibility.
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Last modified: 04/25/2000