The Psychological Assessment of Political LeadersThis chapter presents the method of measuring three motives—
achievement, affiliation, and power—in political leaders, through
systematic content analysis of their speeches, interviews, and other
verbal material. The broad outlines of the method have already been
discussed in chapter 2. In the present chapter, the three motives, and
the way in which they are measured through content analysis, are
first discussed. Then the major political psychology research studies
using this scoring method are reviewed. Finally, the procedures and
requirements for motive assessment are discussed, along with issues
and problems.
Achievement, Affiliation, and Power as Dimensions of MotivationAs discussed in chapter 2, both theoretical analyses and empirical
studies of human motivated behavior consistently suggest that
achievement, affiliation, and power are three fundamental dimen-
sions of motivated behavior.^1 This section presents brief scoring
definitions for each motive (elaborated in table 7.1) and the results of
several decades of research on the associated actions and outcomes
(summarized in table 7.2). The following section presents results of
political psychology studies, involving at-a-distance assessment of
the motives of political leaders.
Achievement Motivation: A Concern for Excellence
Achievement motive imagery is scored in texts or other verbal mate-
rial when there are references to excellence, doing a "good" or "bet-
ter" job, or carrying out some unique accomplishment or innovative
action. The following are examples of achievement motive imagery
in political speeches or interviews.
"I sense the people are seeking something new and better."
"The only thing we have that's greater than present wealth is
our future potential."
"We created the least bureaucratic governmental enterprise in
modern governmental history."
People who use a lot of achievement motive imagery tend to be
successful economically, particularly as entrepreneurs in small, high-
tech companies—people who by their own efforts organize labor, capi-
tal, and technology to produce and market some new product or ser-