The Profile of Political Leaders: Archetypes of Ascendancy [Paperback]

By analysing a wide range of empirical research into leadership, this book provides a composite portrait of frequent characteristics, such as personality and demeanour, that influence both the success and popularity of political leaders. Through the lenses of mass psychology and collective behaviour sociology, the author offers fascinating observations on political leadership which reveal a coherent pattern. In our choice of and support for leaders, we still seem to be guided by unconscious or instinctive preferences. Evolutionary psychologists have labelled this CALP for Cognitive Ancestral Leadership Prototype. Length, symmetry, face form, voice pitch, eye blinking and more turn out to play a role  even today - alongside personality and style. Each chapter of the book offers a case study to illustrate these observations, including Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Boris Johnson. This book is accessibly written to appeal to students of politics, psychology and sociology, as well as the wider interested reader. 

Chapter 1: First Impressions of Leaders.- Chapter 2: Height and Posture.- Chapter 3: Name and Destiny.- Chapter 4: Limbs and Gestures.- Chapter 5: Personality and Traits.- Chapter 6: Face and Expressions.- Chapter 7: Style and Demeanour.- Chapter 8: Voice and Speech.- Chapter 9: Time and Place.- Chapter 10: Leaders from the Stone Age?.- Appendix.- Acknowledgments.- Index.- Author.

Van Ginneken has produced a lively, easy to read, and relatively short book packed with data and illustrative vignettes. Anyone & could read it and understand the message. Many, including those interested in most subfields of psychology, political science, sociology, history, and a range of humanities, would enjoy this work. It is highly relevant to most of us as individuals, because it talks about human factol.