Verbal Behavior and Personality AssessmentFord was my close personal friend" are personal references. Clauses
whose subjects are not known to the speaker are scored as nonper-
sonal. An almost exclusive use of nonpersonal references suggests
detachment to the listener. Infrequent use of nonpersonal references
may reflect a concrete preoccupation with oneself and one's immedi-
ate surroundings. John F. Kennedy made little use of personal refer-
ences. This enhanced the impression of a cool, detached leader thor-
oughly in command of the situation.
Creative or Colorful ExpressionsThis category includes all occurrences of wit, metaphor, and idiosyn-
cratic use of language. If colorful expressions are of high quality and
novel, they may reflect the presence of an original mind. Original or
not, colorful expressions are perceived by most listeners as entertain-
ing. Examples of creative expressions would be "a fitfully red sky"
and "scenes of riotous dissipation."
Emotional Speech
Previously we identified expressions of feelings as a category that
conveys emotion, but it is not the only such category. Listeners asso-
ciate the following categories as also conveying emotion: (i) the use
of 7 rather than we; (2) adverbial intensifies; (3) direct references; and
(4) personal rather than nonpersonal references. Most emotional
speakers will use several of the feelings categories to convey warmth.Conversion of Raw Scores to Final Scores
With the exception of nonpersonal references, final scores are occur-
rences per one thousand words. The final nonpersonal references
score is a ratio obtained by multiplying the raw nonpersonal refer-
ences score by one thousand and dividing the resulting figure by the
combined raw nonpersonal and personal references score. Detailed
information about computing scores and sample-size issues can be
found in Weintraub 1981 (197). Mean verbal scores for the first
seven post—World War II presidents can be found in table 6.1.Deciding Which Personality Traits to Investigate
Once we have decided to study personality traits by analyzing verbal
behavior, we must then choose which characteristics we wish to