A leadership index on the California Psychological Inventory.

Identification of variables related to leadership in general may be distinguished from predicting leadership in defined situations. Variables of general relevance may be only modestly valid in specific contexts. An attempt was made to develop a generally valid leadership index on the California Psychological Inventory. 179 nominated high school leaders were contrasted with 2,411 other students; the resulting index included dominance, self-acceptance, well-being, and achievement via independence weighted positively and good impression weighted negatively. A correlation ratio of +34 was obtained in cross-validat ion on 164 college students, and norms were presented for 1,371 high school students. Conceptual analysis showed the index to be diagnostic of dominance, self-confidence, and aggressiveness at one pole, and of caution, patience, and submissiveness at the other. A perusal of entries in the Psychological Abstracts over the years will quickly confirm one's expectations that psychologists have long been interested in the topic of leadership. Although much of what has been written on leadership has been speculative, a substantial body of empirical and theoretical literature is beginning to emerge. In recent years books by Bass (1960), Bellows (1959), and Fiedler (1967) and a volume of analyses edited by Petrullo and Bass (1961) have made significant contributions. A recurrent theme in the study of lead