Rick Perry

The Personality Profile

of 2016 Presidential Candidate Rick Perry

April 24, 2015

Abstract

A psychological analysis of former Texas governor Rick Perry — a contender for the Republican nomination in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections — by Demetre Koukouves, April Donovan, Natalie Lambert, Shuhan Yi, and Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, revealed that Rick Perry’s primary personality pattern is Dominant/asserting, complemented by secondary Dauntless/adventurous, Ambitious/confident, and Outgoing/congenial features. In summary, Perry’s personality composite can be characterized as a dominant, risk-taking extravert.

Rick Perry poster 2015-04
Click on image for larger view


Psychological profiles of declared and prospective Republican presidential candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election were presented April 23, 2015, at “Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day,” an annual event to recognize students, faculty, and staff who have undertaken significant research, scholarship, or creative works during the past academic year at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict.

Undergraduate students in a Personality Psychology course at the colleges conducted the research under the auspices of the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, directed by Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology.

Biographical and life history data concerning the candidates was collected from media reports and synthesized into personality profiles using the third edition of the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM–5.