The Democratic Political Personality: Functions of Attitudes and Styles of Reasoning

This article applies holistic personality theory to the concept of democratic political personality, emphasizing the importance of style of reasoning and of the functional bases of attitudes on democratic beliefs. Three subtypes the socially adaptive, the cognitive, and the character-rooted democratic personality -are developed and analyzed to show the utility of the general concept for empirical research. Examples of each subtype are presented to emphasize the differences in styles of reasoning and in the bases of political attitudes among the types. This article emphasizes the crucial role democratic political personality can play in both normative and empirical analyses; it is a useful bridging and empirical concept for studies of personalities and polities.