The psychology of the Politician

Often disregarded is the psychological background of the politician. The politician's trade group connections, the party, other influences, but not the psychology are considered important. The politician was once a developing child, felt all the parental and peer influences that anyone experiences, and had seminal alterations of character as a result of this. These factors are neglected until prominence becomes sufficient for a book to be written and, even then, salient psychological influences may be overlooked. If a politician has an abusive father, this rarely comes to the fore. The evidence supports the idea that abusive fathers often create paranoid and defensive male adults. Clearly this becomes an important part of assessing any politician. A politico who finds himself as a child engaging in severe sibling rivalry may have such defensive narcissism that he can tolerate no opposition from peers. He may be more prone to war where he sees the enemy as a sibling rather than a stategic problem. All these and more psychological factors feed into politicians' behaviors, yet they are rarely mentioned in the press. Understanding the background of a politician may be more important than knowing what school he/she attended or how his/her current marital status fares.