Personality and Political Participation: Does Self-Ideal Discrepancy Make a Difference?

Abstract

Rival accounts of the relation between personality adjustment, e.g., psychic fulfillment, self-actualizarion, and the like, and political participation are summarized, and the notion of self-ideal congruence introduced as an independent variable of relevance. The latter, as an aspect of self-actualization, was then investigated for its relationship to political participation. Findings from a sample of 85 college students did not conform to expectations derived from “actualization” theory but were not inconsistent with “compensation” perspectives, as no positive relationship was found between congruence and two measures of political participation.