Politicians’ Uniquely Simple Personalities

Tony Blair RunningWith the General Election only a few short weeks away, there’s election fever here in the UK. Well, even if the populace hasn’t quite reached fever pitch, there’s certainly a fever amongst the politicians. And part of the reason was discovered a few years ago in a psychological study of how the electorate judge the canditates. Unlike the five dimensions of personality which are normally used, people judge politicians on only two dimensions: How trustworthy are they? How energetic are they?

This neatly explains why politicians spend the run-up to elections rushing around trying to be honest with ordinary people. It’s a simple as that.

About the author

Psychologist, Jeremy Dean, PhD is the founder and author of PsyBlog. He holds a doctorate in psychology from University College London and two other advanced degrees in psychology.

He has been writing about scientific research on PsyBlog since 2004. He is also the author of the book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits” (Da Capo, 2003) and several ebooks.

SOURCE: PSYBLOG