Charisma
The word Charisma (translated from the Greek χάρισμα (khárisma), which means “gift” or “divine favor”) refers to a rare trait found in certain people usually including charm and a “magnetic” personality or appearance along with innate and powerfully sophisticated personal communicability and persuasiveness.
That is, charisma is often used to describe a seemingly effortless ability to charm and influence people. It refers especially to a quality in some persons who easily draw the attention and admiration of others due to a magnetic personality or appearance. |
Though the term as it stands is difficult to define, other similar terms related to charisma include: allure, charm, electricity, exuberance, equanimity, jole de vivre, “may dating,” mystique, personal magnetism, personal appeal, and positive energy. Usually many of these qualities must be present within a person for him or her to be considered highly charismatic by the public or peers.
Charismatic individualsOpens in new window generally project confidence, calmness, assertiveness, authenticity, and focus, along with superb communication skills.
To the early Greeks, charisma was said to be “a divine favor” or “gift of grace,” implying that this quality was an inborn trait. Today, however, most believe it can be taught or learned despite the persistent inability to fully define and understand it.
The study, recognition, and development of charisma in individuals is of particular interest also to sociologists, politicians, public speakers, movie stars, movie producers, casting directors, pop-music stars, academicians involved in leadership development studies, and trainers targeting the upper-echelons of the business community (CEOs).
In some cases, highly extroverted and brutally controlling charismatic leaders, like Adolf HitlerOpens in new window and Jim JonesOpens in new window, have used their personal charisma in extremely destructive and damaging ways.
The German sociologist Max WeberOpens in new window defined charismatic authority to be one of there forms of authority, the other two being traditional (feudal) authority and legal or rational authority. According to Weber, charisma is:
a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which s/he is “set apart” from ordinary people and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These as such are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as divine in origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leaderOpens in new window.
Pierre BourdieuOpens in new window did not have a very different position from that of Weber’s, but he stressed that a leader has charisma only if other people accept that he or she has it. Bourdieu argued that charisma depends on an inaugural act such as a moving speech or decisive battle after which the charismatic person will be regarded as such.
Charisma has also been studied as a set of behaviors/traits e.g., a modern psychological approach posits that charisma is basically aggregative—a conglomeration of distinct personality traits that hold well in certain individuals. Theatrically, charisma is said to be encapsulated in verbal and non-verbal communication.
Dr. Richard WisemanOpens in new window, Professor of the public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, says that a charismatic person has three attributes:
- they feel emotions themselves quite strongly
- they induce them in others, and
- they are impervious to the influences of other charismatic people.
- Tskhay, K. O., Zhu, R., Zou, C., & Rule, N.O. (2018). Charisma in everyday life: Conceptualization and validation of the general charisma inventory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(1), 131 – 152.