Kamala Harris Personality and Leadership Profile

• Kamala Harris’s primary personality pattern was found
to be Dominant/asserting (a measure of aggressiveness),

complemented by secondary Ambitious/confident and
Outgoing/congenial patterns — measures of narcissism
and extraversion, respectively.
• Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others

and to evoke obedience and respect; they are tough and
unsentimental and often make effective leaders.
The Political Personality Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-
assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect
of 2020 Democratic others to recognize their special qualities, and
sometimes act as though entitled. Outgoing individuals
Vice-Presidential are dramatic attention-getters who thrive on being the
center of social events, go out of their way to be popular
Nominee Kamala Harris with others, and have confidence in their social abilities.
• The prominence of the Dominant pattern, in conjunction

Abstract with distinctive Ambitious and Outgoing patterns in her
overall personality configuration, is indicative of a high-
dominance charismatic subtype — charismatic by virtue
of the elevated Ambitious–Outgoing amalgam.
• Harris’s major personality strengths in a political role

are her confident assertiveness and personal charisma.
Her major personality-based shortcoming is likely to be
a predisposition to occasional lapses in emotional
restraint or self-discipline.
Definition of Personality
• Distinctive, pervasive patterns of

thinking, feeling, acting, and relating to
others
• Stable over time
• Consistent across situations

Nature of Personality
Expressed
Deeply
Largely automatically in
embedded Not easily altered
nonconscious most facets of
(ingrained)
functioning
Personality Stability
Consistency over Time
Consistency increases with age
Personality is more consistent over

time than across situations
Consistency is weaker for attitudes,

interests, and opinions than for
personality
Coherence: Although temporally

consistent, how a trait is manifested in
behavior might change over time
Millon’s Eight Attribute Domains
Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria
Taxonomy: Scales and Gradations
MIDC Score Sheet for Kamala Harris
MIDC Item Endorsement Rate
by Attribute Domain
MIDC Scale Scores for Kamala Harris
MIDC Profile for Kamala Harris
Primary Personality Pattern
Dominant (i.e., forceful, aggressive)
• Enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke respect

• Tough and unsentimental
• Typically effective leaders
Secondary Personality Pattern
Ambitious (i.e., confident, narcissistic)
• Bold, competitive, self-assured

• Self-confident; believe in themselves and their talents
• Skilled at using charm to persuade others
• Expect others to recognize their special qualities
• May act as though entitled
Secondary Personality Pattern
Outgoing (i.e., sociable, extraverted)
• Confident in their social skills; feel they can readily influence and charm
others
• Talkative; thrive on being the center of attention
• Possess a personal style that makes people like them
• Prone to boredom when faced with ordinary, repetitive, or mundane tasks
• Impulsive tendency
Personality Composite
High-Dominance Charismatic
Primary Personality Pattern

Dominant/asserting–controlling (Scale 1A, level a–b)
Secondary Personality Patterns

Ambitious/confident–self-serving (Scale 2, level a–b)
Outgoing/congenial–gregarious (Scale 3, level a–b)
Leadership Implications
Presidential style
• Charismatic: consciously refines public image; flair for the dramatic;
uses rhetoric effectively; exhibits artistry in manipulation
Presidential temperament
• Active–positive: self-confident, optimistic, and derives pleasure from
the exercise of power in pursuit of political objectives
Leadership skills
• Mobilization: able to rally, energize, and motivate supporters
• Consolidation: fosters supportive relationships necessary for
implementing policy objectives
Foreign policy orientation
• High-dominance extravert: wants to lead rather than contain; flexible
and pragmatic; advocates change
• Influential: seeks to play a leadership role in international affairs;
initiates collaborative activities with foreign leaders
Leadership strengths
• Confident
• Assertive
• Charismatic
Leadership limitations
Conclusion
• Predisposed to occasional
lapses in emotional restraint
• May be somewhat lacking in
self-discipline
• May become easily bored when
faced with repetitive or
mundane tasks
Link to full-text research paper
Griebie, A., Immelman, A., & Zhang, Y. (2020, September). The political personality of 2020
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Collegeville and St. Joseph, MN: St. John’s
University and the College of St. Benedict, Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics. Retrieved
from Digital Commons website: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/131/
Related paper
Griebie, A., & Immelman, A. (2020, August). The political personality of 2020 Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden. Collegeville and St. Joseph, MN: St. John’s University and the
College of St. Benedict, Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics. Retrieved from Digital
Commons website: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/130/

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• Kamala Harris’s primary personality pattern was found

to be Dominant/asserting (a measure of aggressiveness),

• Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others

• The prominence of the Dominant pattern, in conjunction

• Harris’s major personality strengths in a political role

• Distinctive, pervasive patterns of

• Stable over time

• Consistent across situations

Personality is more consistent over

Consistency is weaker for attitudes,

Coherence: Although temporally

Dominant (i.e., forceful, aggressive)

• Enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke respect

Ambitious (i.e., confident, narcissistic)

• Bold, competitive, self-assured

Outgoing (i.e., sociable, extraverted)

Primary Personality Pattern

Secondary Personality Patterns

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