Lakoff's Parenting Styles, Myers-Briggs And The Dark Triad

We have covered many different ways of characterizing personality in class, including: authoritarian/libertarian personality, Lakoff’s parenting styles, Myers-Briggs, and the Dark Triad. But which of these four is most valuable and useful to political science? Lakoff’s parenting styles seem to be the best and most valuable option for political science. As mentioned in lectures, Lakoff’s Parenting Styles are supposed to reveal the hidden moral values people hold which ultimately correlate to their political values and preferences. George Lakoff noticed that many political figures often use metaphors describing the nation as a family. He began to see examples everywhere and wondered if it correlated to whether one was Democrat or Republican and …show more content…
First of all, there are only two different type of styles one could have. This is valuable in itself because it fits perfectly with the two most popular ideologies (liberal and conservative). Ideology is a major part of political science and arguably one of the most important parts. Although authoritarian/libertarian personalities does something similar, that method has too many negative criticisms, such as: many people do not want to be considered authoritarians. The Myers-Briggs type indicator simply has too many categories that one may fall into, and the type differences usually are not large. As mentioned in class, MBTI has some relationships with partisanship, but not that strong. The Dark Triad is interesting, but I feel as though the results are just one’s faults and do not relate much to politics other than the fact that politicians are more likely to have the Dark Triad (as well as many other leaders in society). The parenting styles of course have their criticisms as well, but they seem to be the best option out of the ones presented. Lakoff’s Parenting Style’s were created with politics in mind, so they do not relate much to one’s character other than who they are as a parent and how that relates to their political life, but those may be the most important parts of one’s character. It says a lot about who a person is and their …show more content…
They are doing what they think is best for the country, similar to how a parent will do what they think is best for their child. So besides the fact that people vote based on their preferences, personality, and even their parenting styles apparently, what is the reason candidates like President Trump for example end up winning elections? President Trump was a strong candidate, but he also had many who despised him; so how did he pull off winning an election when certainly over half of the country hated him? This is where Lakoff’s Parenting styles come in. An article written by George Lakoff himself gives a few reasons why Trump did so well as a candidate. He mentioned Trumps ability to win most arguments as well as insulting others, which made him seem as a strong candidate who could overall win the election. Lakoff mentions something else that is questionably accurate, but makes sense. He says that the Moral Hierarchy, a traditional view, is pushed by the strict father. He explains this Hierarchy as racist, selfish, and no where near empathetic. One thing he says that stuck out was “Our Country above other countries,” which was a big part of President Trumps campaign and now platform (Lakoff). Lakoff says, “Family-based moral worldviews run deep. Since people want to see themselves as doing right not wrong, moral worldviews tend to be