How US leaders share character traits with psychopaths

Researchers found 'fearless dominance' was a trait found in many successful US presidents - and also a trait common in psychopaths.

A character trait in psychopaths has been identified by scientists as a common thread in successful US presidents.

Fearless dominance, which is linked to less social and physical apprehensiveness, boosts leadership, persuasiveness, crisis management and congressional relations, according to new research.

Theodore Roosevelt, regarded as one of the most influential US leaders even though he was in office more than a hundred years ago, ranked highest for this type of personality followed by John F Kennedy, Franklin D Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.

Then came Rutherford Hayes, Zachary Taylor, Bill Clinton, Martin Van Buren, Andrew Jackson and George W Bush.

Fearless and dominant people are often a paradoxical mix of charm and nastiness. Cool and calm under pressure, they not easily rattled.

They lack the same kind of anticipatory anxiety that most people have so are not put off from taking dangerous actions.

They are usually intelligent and wealthy, relishing directing other people’s activities and basking in their admiration.

The analysis, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, drew upon personality assessments of 42 presidents up to George W Bush and compiled by Steven Rubenzer and Thomas Faschingbauer for their book ‘Personality, Character and Leadership in the White House.’

More than a hundred experts including biographers, journalists and scholars who are established authorities on one or more US presidents evaluated their target presidents using standardised psychological measures of personality, intelligence and behaviour.

For rankings on various aspects of job performance, the analysis relied primarily on data from two large surveys of presidential historians.

The rich historical data on presidents, combined with detailed expert rankings, provided a window into an emerging theory some aspects of psychopathy may actually be positive adaptations in certain social situations.

新研究发现，他们那种无所畏惧的支配欲，能提高领导力、口才、危机管理能力，有助他们与国会关系和谐，但这种支配欲也与较低的社交和生理忧虑感有关。

西奥多•罗斯福尽管是100多年前的总统，但至今仍被认为是最有影响力的美国领导人之一。研究认为罗斯福总统的这种人格特质最突出，其次是约翰•F•肯尼迪、富兰克林•罗斯福和罗纳德•里根。

排在其后的是拉瑟福德•海斯、扎卡里•泰勒、比尔•克林顿、马丁•范布伦、安德鲁•杰克逊和小布什总统。

无所畏惧、支配欲强的人通常都是魅力和邋遢的矛盾统一体。他们在压力下冷静沉着，不轻易感到慌乱。

他们缺少大多数人拥有的那种预期性焦虑，因此他们在采取危险行动时不会退缩。

他们通常都聪慧富有，喜欢指挥他人的行动，享受他人赞赏的目光。

这一发表在《人格与社会心理学》杂志上的分析报告基于对42位总统（最后一位是小布什）的性格分析，由史蒂芬•鲁本策和托马斯•法辛保尔进行撰写，并收录进他们的《白宫中的人格、个性和领导力》一书中。

100多名专家——包括传记作者、记者和对一位以上的美国总统有权威见识的学者——对他们研究的总统进行了评估，采用的是对人格、智力和行为的标准化心理测量标准。

在对总统工作业绩的各个方面进行排名时，该分析报告采用的主要数据来源是研究总统的历史学家开展的两次大规模研究的数据。

与总统相关的丰富的历史资料，再加上详尽的专家排名，为我们了解这一新生理论打开了一扇窗，让我们意识到精神变态的某些方面也许在特定社会情境下会变成积极的适应能力。

Vocabulary:

psychopath: 精神病患者，心理病态性格

apprehensiveness: 忧虑感

rattle: 使惊慌，使生气

bask in: （在某种环境或情况下）感到愉快或舒适