Today, the American president faces increasing pressure and complexity at every turn. Domestic policy demands expertise on an expanding array of topics, and proliferating crises around the world require sudden attention and, often, a quick response.
As a clinical psychologist, I’m most fascinated by this question: Exactly what psychological traits does a candidate need to win the 2016 election and to guide our country successfully? After talking to historians, biographers, and political scientists, I’ve realized that we are increasingly of two minds when it comes to politics—what we want in a president and what we need may be two different things. Appealing to the limbic lobe is how a candidate wins elections, while he or she governs the country by relying almost unremittingly on the cortex.
First, there’s the old brain. At the base of the brain is the limbic lobe, the source of our most basic drives and instincts as well as of our emotions. Responsive to cues that helped our ancestors survive, the old brain strongly influences what appeals to us on a gut level. But sprawling on top of the limbic system is the cortex, or new brain, which sets us apart from other mammals and makes us rational and human. It’s this brain that enables analysis and judgment.