The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadershe must vigilantly monitor developments in the international arena
and prudently prepare to contain an adversary while still pursuing
Syria's interests (see Hermann 1988a for more detail on Assad's
profile). By using the trait scores, we can begin to build a profile or
image of the leader in comparison to other political leaders.
Contextualizingthe Profile
Much of the research on personality suggests that some people use
contextual cues to determine what they do and, thus, may evidence
changes in their trait scores depending on the nature of the situation.
Other people's personalities are fairly stable across situations. By
examining diverse material on a political leader, it is possible to
determine how stable his or her leadership traits are. By analyzing
material that cuts across a period of time, across different substantive
topics, across different audiences, and is inside or outside of the lead-
ership group (or political unit), we can determine the stability of the
leadership traits. Moreover, by examining different aspects of the
context such as the topic, audience, and whether the focus of atten-
tion is on the domestic or international domains, we can learn if lead-
ers are sensitive to certain cues in their environment but not to oth-
ers. If there is variability in the scores, then, we can determine if the
differences give us insights into how the leader's public images dif-
fer—the various ways political leaders adapt to the situations in
which they find themselves. We gain cues about how they are likely
to change their behavior and what contextual features generate such
change.Nature of Topics Covered
To examine whether and how a leader's traits may differ by substan-
tive topic, it is necessary to ascertain what topics are covered in the
material under analysis. At issue is determining what the leader is
talking about in each interview response that is being coded. What
topics are under discussion? After noting the topics that are covered
in the interview responses being studied, it is generally possible to
arrive at a set of categories by checking where the topics are similar
and which topics are discussed the most. In effect, some topics can be
combined into a more generic topic (e.g., technological development
and trade/aid topics might be collapsed into a category called eco-