Rizz, a slang term for charisma, is the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year (beating out Swiftie and situationship). This seems an appropriate time to write about the psychology of charisma.

I’ve been studying charisma for 45 years, and through our research, and research by others, we are beginning to understand this intriguing and elusive psychological construct.

Early Conceptualizations of Charisma

The roots of charisma are religious. Charisma means the divine gift of grace, and there are notions of charisma in Christian religion. Secular ideas of charisma are best represented by German sociologist, Max Weber, who discussed charismatic authority. According to Weber, certain individuals possess extraordinary qualities that seem to captivate others. As a result, that charismatic individual is seen as a leader and attracts devoted followers. This led to a long line of research on charismatic leadership, including theories by House (1976) and Conger and colleagues (Conger and Kanungo, 1998). Beyond charismatic leadership, however, here is a focus on the qualities that make a person charismatic, regardless of whether or not they are a leader.

The Qualities That Make Up Charisma

Charisma is not one thing. Research suggests that it’s a composite of different qualities possessed by certain individuals that........

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