成功美國總統都有精神缺陷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。
科學家發現，成功的美國總統都具有某種共同的心理病態性格。
新研究發現，他們那種無所畏懼的支配欲，能提高領導力、口才、危機管理能力，有助他們與國會關系和諧，但這種支配欲也與較低的社交和生理憂慮感有關。
西奧多•羅斯福盡管是100多年前的總統，但至今仍被認為是最有影響力的美國領導人之一。研究認為羅斯福總統的這種人格特質最突出，其次是約翰•F•肯尼迪、富蘭克林•羅斯福和羅納德•里根。
排在其后的是拉瑟福德•海斯、扎卡里•泰勒、比爾•克林頓、馬丁•范布倫、安德魯•杰克遜和小布什總統。
無所畏懼、支配欲強的人通常都是魅力和邋遢的矛盾統一體。他們在壓力下冷靜沉著，不輕易感到慌亂。
他們缺少大多數人擁有的那種預期性焦慮，因此他們在采取危險行動時不會退縮。
他們通常都聰慧富有，喜歡指揮他人的行動，享受他人贊賞的目光。
這一發表在《人格與社會心理學》雜志上的分析報告基于對42位總統(最后一位是小布什)的性格分析，由史蒂芬•魯本策和托馬斯•法辛保爾進行撰寫，并收錄進他們的《白宮中的人格、個性和領導力》一書中。
100多名專家——包括傳記作者、記者和對一位以上的美國總統有權威見識的學者——對他們研究的總統進行了評估，采用的是對人格、智力和行為的標準化心理測量標準。
在對總統工作業績的各個方面進行排名時，該分析報告采用的主要數據來源是研究總統的歷史學家開展的兩次大規模研究的數據。
與總統相關的豐富的歷史資料，再加上詳盡的專家排名，為我們了解這一新生理論打開了一扇窗，讓我們意識到精神變態的某些方面也許在特定社會情境下會變成積極的適應能力。
