Assessing Leadership Style: Trait Analysis

The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders

verbal profile is that of a flexible leader. Clinton has a moderate
explainers score, suggesting that he is not excessively didactic when
presenting his point of view. Indeed, he more often states rather than
explains his point of view.
Clinton's expressions of feeling and nonpersonal references scores place
him among the more emotionally expressive post-World War II
presidents. His rather low direct references score indicates a tendency to
avoid direct confrontation. It is somewhat surprising to learn that
Clinton rarely addresses reporters by name, a favorite verbal habit of
Ronald Reagan. During his press interviews, Clinton generally lim-
its himself to a discussion of issues; he avoids personal interactions
with reporters. Clinton has a rather high adverbial intensifies score.
The president has been called an "actor" and a "preacher." His high
score in a category measuring histrionic behavior seems to confirm
his reputation as an actor-politician. Of the post-World War II pres-
idents, only Eisenhower had a higher adverbial intensifiers score.
Clinton has a rather high negatives score. A careful scrutiny of the
manner in which Clinton uses negatives indicates a tendency to
become defensive when attacked.
Compared to other leaders, Clinton's speech reveals few creative or
colorful remarks. His responses to reporters' questions show few
attempts at humor, almost no metaphorical language, and no unusual
juxtaposition of words. Clearly, with respect to his publicly displayed

TABLE 12.1. BILL CLINTON VERBAL INDICATORS

Category

Personal pronouns

/

We

Me

Qualifiers

Retractors

Negatives

Explainers

Feelings

Direct references

Adverbial intensifiers

Creative expressions

Nonpersonal references

Clinton

(5,7 5 9 words)

54.8

10.4

5.6

11.0

6.6

18.4

5.0

3.8

1.2

18.6

1.4

469.5

U.S. Presidents

(20,000 words)

31.6

18.3

2.2

11.2

7.6

13.7

5.0

3-3

2.5

14.1

2.0

742.2