16. Saddam Hussein:
Personality Traits and Motivational Biases
The following analyses of Saddam Hussein focus successively on his
general personality traits and his motivational biases. The authors in
each of the following sections apply their respective methods of con-
tent analysis to construct a profile of the causal mechanisms associ-
ated with the processes of ego defense and the mediation of self-other
relationships.
General Personality Traits and Ego Defenses
Walter Weintraub
The analysis of Saddam Hussein's general personality from his
speech habits is based upon 9,461 words gathered randomly from
responses to foreign reporters' questions during three interviews in
- Table 16.1 compares the Iraqi leader's use of different cate-
gories with that of U.S. presidents since World War II. Of twelve
verbal categories, Hussein's scores are low in the following cate-
gories: the personal pronouns i, we, and me; qualifiers; expressions of
feeling; and colorful or creative speech. His scores are high in the fol-
lowing categories: explainers, adverbial intensifies, direct references, and
nonpersonal references. The paucity of personal pronouns together with
low scores in the expressions of feeling and personal references cate-
gories gives the Iraqi leader's speech a cold, detached, impersonal
quality. A rather high adverbial intensifies score imparts a certain
dramatic flavor to Hussein's speech.
If Hussein's speech lacks warmth, it is not without a certain
engaging quality. A high direct references score reflects a confronta-
tional quality to his speech. Hussein's responses to aggressive ques-
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