Personality and Political Participation: A New Look at Sociability

Sociability has been used in contemporary history to explain the roots of modern parliamentarism, by establishing a link between the increasing availability of free time to the middle classes, the increasing willingness to gather together with others in circles or associations and finally an increasing desire to participate in politics. In personality psychology, sociability is a trait which is correlated with the political aspects of extraversion. Two studies were conducted in order to ascertain whether the novel personality construct of sociability, which is derived from historiography, adds to our current knowledge of political participation. The results are also discussed considering sociability as a personality dimension of political participation that may contribute to stimulating research on personality and politics.