The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaderswhen comparing speakers' use of qualifiers. In a study of the use of
qualifiers, it has been shown that the use of this category is nega-
tively associated with preparation. Qualifiers serve as fillers, words
and phrases that are used when speakers are searching their memo-
ries for more informative words (Weintraub and Plaut 1985). A pre-
pared speech will contain many fewer qualifiers than an extempora-
neous news conference.
Retractors
Retractors, also referred to as adversative expressions, weaken or
reverse previously spoken remarks. They include expressions such as
but, the most commonly used retractor, however, and nevertheless. The
frequent use of retractors suggests a difficulty in adhering to previ-
ously made decisions and imparts a flavor of impulsivity to the
speaker's style (Weintraub and Aronson 1964). Compared to other
post—World War II presidents, Richard Nixon used significantly
more retractors (Weintraub 1981, 130—31). This was particularly
true during the anti-Vietnam demonstrations, when Nixon showed
marked mercurial behavior.
Impulsivity is not the only personality trait associated with the
frequent use of retractors. Many speakers use retractors to achieve
"pseudo-consensus," an apparent but not genuine agreement with
another speaker's point of view. An example of pseudo-consensus is
the following statement: "I agree that your grade deserves to be
raised from "B" to "A," but, as principal of the school, I must support
your teacher."/ and We
In political discourse, a speaker's use of I and we seems to reflect a need
to present himself either as his own person (high / score, low we score)
or as a speaker for a party or cause (low / score, high we score). The use
of the imperial we, a habit of kings and emperors, is unusual for Amer-
ican politicians. Lyndon Johnson occasionally used this device. Leaders
of communist countries effect a certain political humility by using we
as their preferred personal pronoun. One sign indicating that Gor-
bachev was a "new" Soviet leader was his relatively frequent use of /
when interviewed by journalists (Winter et al. 1991a).