The Profile of Political Leaders: Archetypes of Ascendancy

by Jaap van Ginneken

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319805825
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	06/06/2018
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2016
Pages:	167
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jaap van Ginneken is Former Associate Professor of Communication Science at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He has extensive experience in media and journalism and is the author of 24 books, 10 in English. His previous book The Psychology of Power was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2014.

Table of Contents

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.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Jaap van Ginneken has long been considered one of the most prolific authors on psychology, for a broad audience in The Netherlands. His works are written in a clear and accessible style. With numerous examples, he shows time and again how miraculous and fascinating human behaviour is. His book on leaders is the crown on his work.” (Vittorio Busato, Editor-in-Chief, De Psycholoog,  the Netherlands)

“Always wanted to know what makes the world leaders so powerful? It is important, and sometimes also hilarious and unsettling, to understand what features makes these men (and women) directors of our common future. To discover all this you have to read Van Ginneken’s latest book.” (Cees Hamelink, Emeritus Professor International Communication, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

“This book offers a bold challenge to modern theories about leadership. There is little rationality in how we choose our political leaders as we are constantly being fooled by our ancestral brains. This provocative message may ruffle a few feathers but if you think leadership matters, you cannot ignore this book.” (Mark van Vugt, Professor of Pyschology, Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands)

Editorial Reviews

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 factors that we are keenly or at least vaguely aware of about ourselves … .” (Edward Cumella, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 61 (50), December, 2016)

From the Publisher