By Dr. A.J. Drenth

“The individual’s pattern of thought reflects his personality and is not merely an aggregate of opinions picked up helter-skelter from the ideological environment.” -Adorno1

As the above quote suggests, our political views are less determined by our social environment than we might think. Research suggests that our personality, as described by taxonomies such as the Myers-Briggs or Big Five, significantly predicts and informs our political preferences.2

Before exploring the relevant links between personality and political preferences, we need to first spell out the key relationships between the Myers-Briggs and the Big Five. Building on the seminal work of Carl Jung, Myers and Briggs developed a personality framework and assessment (MBTI) based on four dichotomous pairs (E-I, S-N, T-F, J-P). The Myers-Briggs has been shown to consistently correlate and overlap with the leading academic model of personality, the NEO-PI, or what is more commonly known as “The Big Five.”3 The dimensions of, and primary areas of overlap between, these two taxonomies are as follows:

Big Five Openness, Myers-Briggs Intuition (N) & Political Liberalism

Research has consistently shown that the most powerful predictor of political liberalism is a preference for intuition (N) on the Myers-Briggs and high levels of openness on the Big Five. Openness, as described by the Big Five, is comprised of six facets—openness to actions, values, feelings, fantasy, aesthetics, and ideas. According to Wikipedia:

Openness is a general appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience. People who are open to experience are intellectually curious, open to emotion, sensitive to beauty and willing to try new things. They tend to be, when compared to closed people, more creative and more aware of their feelings. They are also more likely to hold unconventional beliefs.

Similarly, Myers-Briggs intuitives are known to be creative, reflective, and imaginative, exhibiting abstract and unconventional modes of thinking.4 They also tend to emphasize the “big picture,” making broad connections, and seeing the whole before the parts / details. Although these descriptors aren’t explicitly employed by the Big Five, they are pointed to by the fact that open individuals typically exhibit a breadth of abstract interests (e.g., art, science, literature, politics, etc.).

In their article, The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives, Dana Carney and her colleagues provide an excellent overview of the known personality traits of liberals and conservatives, including the following (abridged) list of liberal characteristics:

The Liberal Personality Eccentric, sensitive, individualistic

Open, tolerant, flexible

Creative, imaginative, curious

Unpredictable, impulsive

Desire for novelty, diversity

Complex, nuanced

Open-minded / open to experience

In view of the striking similarities among liberalism, intuition, and openness, one is almost tempted to accuse personality theorists of patterning their constructs around liberal individuals. However, what is in my view more likely is that these constructs are capturing core truths about human personality that can’t help but manifest in the political sphere.

Big Five Conscientiousness, Judging (J) & Conservatism

Although somewhat weaker than the link between openness and liberalism, research has also found significant and consistent correlations between judging (J) / conscientiousness and political conservatism.5 According to Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham, authors of the book, Personality and Intellectual Competence:

Conscientiousness is associated with responsibility and persistence. This factor includes…competence, order, dutifulness, achievement striving, self-discipline, and deliberation. Conscientious individuals are best-identified for their efficiency, organization, determination and productivity.6

Conscientiousness tends to correlate with Myers-Briggs judging (J), although this relationship is less robust and reliable than that observed between openness and intuition. Many type enthusiasts associate judging with a preference for closure, which is interesting insofar as it represents the opposite of Big Five openness. This helps us understand why Big Five openness not only correlates with intuition, but also with perceiving (although not as strongly). For this reason, the Myers-Briggs NP types (ENTP, ENFP, INTP, INFP) typically score highest in openness and lowest in conscientiousness.

Let us now return to Carney’s article for a list of common characteristics of political conservatives:

The Conservative Personality Persistent, tenacious

Reliable, trustworthy, faithful, loyal

Stable, consistent

Rigid, intolerant

Careful, practical, methodical

Conventional, ordinary

Obedient, conformist, concerned with rules / norms

Fearful, threatened

Closed-minded / less open to experience

In perusing this list, those familiar with the Myers-Briggs may have noticed its striking resemblance to characteristics exhibited by the SJ personality types (i.e., ESTJ, ESFJ, ISTJ, ISFJ). In addition to being responsible and persistent, SJs typically exhibit a strong need for order, consistency, and stability in their lives. In direct contrast to NP types, they commonly feel threatened by change and novelty, which helps explain their preference for conserving what is most familiar and comforting to them.

Introversion (I) & Extraversion (E)

Of all the personality variables, the introvert-extravert distinction may be the least politically consequential. However, personality research has frequently demonstrated a correlative clustering of the E, N, and P preferences, as well as the I, S, and J preferences. Similar conceptual overlaps have been noted among Big Five extroversion, openness, neuroticism, and low conscientiousness. In light of these clusters, we might predict that extraverts, who on the whole are inclined to be more open and less conscientious than introverts, will be more disposed to liberalism and introverts to conservatism.

Big Five Agreeableness & Thinking (T) / Feeling (F)

Agreeableness, as defined by the Big Five, involves a tendency to be trusting, compliant, altruistic, modest, and honest. Agreeableness typically correlates with the Myers-Briggs feeling (F) preference, which is commonly described in terms of making decisions with the heart rather than with impersonal logic. Research suggests that nearly two-thirds of F types are female. We also know that women are more likely to identify as politically liberal than men. We would therefore expect to find more F types among liberals and more T types among conservatives.

The following diagram summarizes many of the key links we’ve discussed between personality and political preferences:

Based on this, we might predict the ENFP personality type to be the most politically liberal and the ISTJ to be the most conservative, with the remaining fourteen types falling somewhere in between. Keep in mind that because the S-N preference is the most politically potent, it would not at all be unusual for a type like an INTJ to be politically liberal or an ESFP to lean conservative.

The Role of Personal Growth

While studying personality types and traits can certainly take us a long way in understanding and predicting political preferences, we should not overlook the important contribution of personal growth in this respect. According to Jung, as we move toward middle age, we (should) begin to develop different parts of our personality that help us become more balanced and whole. In theory, these changes would also be reflected in our political views and may precipitate a move toward the political center. While we may continue to instinctively lean toward one side, this may be tempered by a broader understanding of the world and society. With that said, the fact that liberals are generally more open to change would seemingly make them more likely to moderate than their conservative counterparts.

Learn More in Our eBooks:

My True Type: Clarifying Your Personality Type, Preferences & Functions

The 16 Personality Types: Profiles, Theory & Type Development

Related Posts:

Openness, Myers-Briggs Intuition, Big Five, IQ Correlations

Myers-Briggs / Enneagram Correlations

Personality Typology 101

References:

Adorno, et al. The Authoritarian Personality. 1950, p. 176. Carney, DR. et al. “The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave Behind.” Political Psychology. Vol. 29. 2008. Furnham, A. The Big Five vs. The Big Four: The Relationship between the MBTI and NEO-PI Five-Factor Model. Personality and Individual Differences. August 1996. Briggs Myers, et al. MBTI Manual. Third Edition. CPP. 1998. Carney, DR. et al. “The Secret Lives of Liberals and Conservatives: Personality Profiles, Interaction Styles, and the Things They Leave Behind.” Political Psychology. Vol. 29. 2008. Chamorro-Pemuzic, T, Furnham, A. Personality and Intellectual Competence. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 2005.