Abstract
This paper reviews Hogan’s socioanalytic theory of personality which is an integration of evolutionary psychology, depth psychology and role theory. Personality is defined both from the actor’s and the observer’s points of view: Identity is how an actor sees themselves and believes that others will perceive them; while reputation, is essentially how others evaluate a person’s behavior, summing up both collective observations. The paper describes the various Hogan tests. It also looks at the concept of mentalizing and how that may be integrated with socioanalytic theory. Finally, it considers issues around personality change.
Highlights
This paper is description, critique and extension of socioanalytic theory as developed by Robert Hogan which accounts for the individual differences in status, popularity, and competent performance in general
If Hogan is correct, and narcissism is overrepresented in leadership positions, it is likely that executive coachees will benefit from the Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) paradigm, originally developed for treating borderline personality disorder, and which has shown moderate effect in treating various personality disorders
The Hogan Potential Inventory (HPI), for example, has been taken by millions of working adults globally, all introduced to the notion that personality influences their professional lives
Summary
This paper is description, critique and extension of socioanalytic theory as developed by Robert Hogan which accounts for the individual differences in status, popularity, and competent performance in general. According to the theory to survive an attachment to the effective clan is a hard wired premise with which a duality of a social and hierarchical orientation follows: People want to 1) be well liked/respected and not to risk expulsion (or even assassination), but will 2) concurrently compete for status (power, resources and mates), as fearing being dispensable or not breeding is the logic response to being at the bottom of the social hierarchy (Hogan & Blickle, 2013). Persuading others to transcend their egoistic interests and instead comply with particular social norms of a group, takes someone capable of communicating meaning and connection (Winsborough et al, 2009; Kaiser et al, 2013)—which according to Hogan and Kaiser (2005) is about integrity, decision-making, competence, and vision. Followership mandates those as leaders who represent a resource in realizing individuals’ and their group’s three basic needs in life of getting along, getting ahead and finding meaning, and builds cohesive and goal-oriented teams (Kaiser, 2006)
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