January 21, 2006

Algorithm detects Canadian politicians' spin

Algorithm detects Canadian politicians' spin based on
a psychological model constructed by James Pennebaker at the University of Texas, Austin, US. While studying the lying and truth-telling of hundreds of test subjects, he uncovered patterns linked to deception, such as the decreased use of personal pronouns – such as I, we, me, us – and exception words, such as “however” and “unless".
the results where Martin received a ranking of 124, while Harper and Layton scored 73 and 88, respectively.

Used against Tony Blair I wonder if it would be able to handle numbers big enough?