Personality Foundations of Ideological Divide: A Comparison of Women Members of Parliament and Women Voters in Italy

Abstract

Empirical research is crucial for understanding the personality foundations of political preferences in modern democracies. However, few studies have addressed the personality of top politicians using standard methods to assess basic traits and personal values. In the current research, traits and values of 106 female members of the Italian Parliament were assessed in accordance with the Five-Factor Model of personality and Schwartz's taxonomy. The same variables were measured in a sample of 864 voters taken from the general population. We investigate the extent to which differences in traits and values contribute to ideological orientation of politicians and voters of rival coalitions. A similar pattern of relations was found in both groups. Yet, traits and values contributed to partisanship of politicians much more than to political preferences of voters. Whereas values fully mediated the contribution of traits to voting, energy/extraversion and agreeableness contributed to political partisanship both directly and indirectly, through values.

The personalities of Danish MPs: Trait‐ and aspect‐level differences

“…There are only a few studies of the personality traits of political elites based on validated, direct measures (Italy: Caprara, Barbaranelli, Consiglio, Picconi, & Zimbardo, ; Caprara, Francescato, Mebane, Sorace, & Vecchione, ; Germany: Best, ; United States: Constantini & Craik, ; Dietrich, Lasley, Mondak, Remmel, & Turner, ; Hanania, ; see also Hennessy, ; McConaughy, ). So far, no study of legislators has been undertaken in a Scandinavian country, and, to our knowledge, no one has examined personality differences both on the Big Five level and the aspect level.…”

“…However, in a subsequent study of female Italian members of parliament ( N = 103; response rate = 70%), elites differed significantly from female voters in all personality traits except Conscientiousness. Female MPs were more open, extraverted, agreeable, and emotionally stable (Caprara et al, ).…”

“…In Italy, conservative elites (i.e., members of a center‐right party) scored higher on Extraversion/Energy and Conscientiousness than elites from center‐left parties (Caprara et al, ). In a study of female Italian parliamentarians, center‐left elites also scored higher on Openness to Experience and Agreeableness than center‐right female MPs (Caprara et al, ).…”

Gender differences in personal values of national and local Italian politicians, activists and voters

“…The same trend was found in one recent study that used instead Schwartz's personal values questionnaire. Caprara, Francescato, Mebane, Sorace, and Vecchione () compared 106 women members of parliament and 864 voters using the Big Five questionnaire and Schwartz's basic values questionnaire. They investigated the extent to which differences in traits and values contribute to ideological orientation of politicians and voters of rival coalitions.…”

Political psychology of Indonesian political figure: A case study of a political entrepreneur who is not hesitant in paving a new way

“…The general idea is that the personality traits of a leader tend to affect their performance in political roles (Silvester et al, 2014), such as in terms of leading organization, making policies, and even connect with the people. Often employ an "at-a-distance" methodology to assess a political figure's personality, studies suggested that political roles might require the trait of extraversion and openness, with a little demand of neuroticism and conscientiousness (Caprara, Francescato, Mebane, Sorace, & Vecchione, 2010;Silvester et al, 2014). When we discuss personality, we are not just looking at the politician's abilities and strategies, but also the execution, their intention, and possibility of predicting the outcome of their effort in establishing social changes.…”