China

The Personality Profile of China’s President Xi Jinping

习近平


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President Xi Jinping’s primary personality patterns are Ambitious/confident and Dominant/asserting, complemented by secondary Outgoing/congenial and Accommodating/cooperative features. In summary, Xi may be characterized as a confident, high-dominance extravert.

Mariah Ogden-Kellington, Nate Lutmer, and Anna Faerber present their poster, “The Personality Profile of China’s President Xi Jinping,” at Scholarship Day, College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, April 25, 2019. (Click on photo for full-size image)


Update: November 1, 2020

Preliminary analysis in a more intensive follow-up study by Yunyiyi Chen, incorporating Chinese-language sources, indicates that Xi Jinping’s primary personality patterns are Ambitious/self-serving (a measure of narcissism), Conscientious/dutiful, and Dominant/controlling (a measure of aggressiveness). Provisionally, Xi may be characterized as an ambitious, high-dominance conformist.

Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and sometimes act as though entitled. Conscientious leaders are dutiful and diligent, have a strong work ethic with careful attention to detail, and often excel in crafting public policy — though they tend to be more technocratic than visionary. Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they are tough and unsentimental and potentially make effective leaders.


Update: July 12, 2021

The Personality Profile and Leadership Style of China’s President Xi Jinping. Paper presented by Aubrey Immelman and Yunyiyi Chen at the 44th Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, July 11–13, 2021 (virtual conference). Abstract and link for full-text (33 pages; PDF) download at Digital Commons: https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/psychology_pubs/141/

PowerPoint presentation: Xi Jinping Personality and Leadership Profile

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality and leadership style of China’s president, Xi Jinping, from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon.

Psychodiagnostically relevant data about Xi were collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, and DSM-5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. Xi’s primary personality pattern was found to be Dominant (in the controlling range of scale elevation), complemented by secondary Conscientious (respectful–dutiful range) and Ambitious (confident–self-serving range) patterns and subsidiary Accommodating/cooperative (conciliatory) and Dauntless/adventurous (risk-taking) tendencies. In addition, there is equivocal evidence for Reticent/circumspect features.

Dominant individuals enjoy the power to direct others and to evoke obedience and respect; they are tough and unsentimental and often make effective leaders. Conscientious leaders are dutiful and diligent, with a strong work ethic and careful attention to detail, excel in crafting public policy, and are more technocratic than visionary. Ambitious individuals are bold, competitive, and self-assured; they easily assume leadership roles, expect others to recognize their special qualities, and often act as though entitled.

The concurrently elevated Dominant and Conscientious pattern in Xi’s overall personality configuration is indicative of an aggressive enforcer personality composite. Leaders with this personality prototype are tough, uncompromising, and believe they have a moral duty to punish and control those who deviate from socially sanctioned norms.

Leaders with Xi’s personality profile are likely to exhibit a deliberative leadership style; they are well informed, exhibit depth of comprehension, are able to visualize alternatives and weigh long-term consequences, understand the implications of their decisions, and are cautious and emotionally controlled.

Based on his personality profile, Xi’s foreign policy orientation is anticipated to be primarily that of a high-dominance introvert with an expansionist orientation, characterized by a tendency to dichotomize the world in terms of moral good vs. evil, tenacity in striving to reshape the international system in accordance with his personal vision, and preoccupation with establishing institutions or principles to keep potentially disruptive forces in check.


Research presentation — April 30, 2022


Yunyiyi Chen presents her research poster on “The Personality Profile of Chinese President Xi Jinping” at the Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, April 30, 2022. View the poster at personality-politics.org/china.


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Political Psychology Profile
of China’s Xi Jinping

Kenneth Dekleva, M.D., University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, presents his research on “The child is father to the man: A political psychology profile of China’s Xi Jinping” at the 41st Annual Scientific Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, San Antonio, Texas, July 4-7, 2018.

View related presentation: “The Child is Father to the Man: A Political Psychology Profile of China’s Xi Jinping” (Presentation by Kenneth B. Dekleva, M.D., McKenzie Foundation Chair in Psychiatry I and Associate Professor, Peter J. O’Donnell Brain Institute, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, given at the Headliners Club in Austin, TX, hosted by Geopolitical Futures and the China Public Policy Center, UT Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs, Oct. 9, 2018).

Dekleva_Xi-Jinping_2018-10-09 Dekleva_Xi-Jinping_2018