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Winning Faces Vary By Ideology:How Nonverbal Source Cues Influence Election and Communication Success in Politics
- Source :
- Laustsen, L & Petersen, M B 2016, ' Winning Faces Vary By Ideology : How Nonverbal Source Cues Influence Election and Communication Success in Politics ' Political Communication, vol 33, no. 2, pp. 188-211 ., 10.1080/10584609.2015.1050565, Laustsen, L & Petersen, M B 2016, ' Winning Faces Vary by Ideology: How Nonverbal Source Cues Influence Election and Communication Success in Politics ', Political Communication, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 188-211 . https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2015.1050565
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Taylor & Francis Inc., 2016.
-
Abstract
- Not just the content of a communication but also the source of the communication shapes its persuasiveness. Recent research in political communication suggests that important source cues are non-verbal and relates to the physical traits of the source such that attractive- and competent-looking sources have better success in attracting votes and policy support. Yet, are all non-verbal source cues similarly received irrespective of audience, or does their reception vary across audiences? Specifically, we ask whether some physical traits are received positively by some audiences but backfire for others. Utilizing research on ideological stereotypes and the determinants of facial preferences, we focus on the relationship between the facial dominance of the source and the ideology of the receiver. Across five studies, we demonstrate that a dominant face is a winning face when the audience is conservative but backfires and decreases success when the audience is liberal. On the other hand, a non-dominant face constitutes a winning face among liberal audiences but backfires among conservatives. These effects seemingly stem from deep-seated psychological responses and shape both the election and communication success of real-world politicians. If the faces of politicians do not match the ideology of their constituency, they are more likely to lose in the competition for votes and policy support. Not just the content of a communication but also the source of the communication shapes its persuasiveness. Recent research in political communication suggests that important source cues are nonverbal and relate to the physical traits of the source such that attractive- and competent-looking sources have better success in attracting votes and policy support. Yet, are all nonverbal source cues similarly received irrespective of audience, or does their reception vary across audiences? Specifically, we ask whether some physical traits are received positively by some audiences but backfire for others. Utilizing research on ideological stereotypes and the determinants of facial preferences, we focus on the relationship between the facial dominance of the source and the ideology of the receiver. Across five studies, we demonstrate that a dominant face is a winning face when the audience is conservative but backfires and decreases success when the audience is liberal. On the other hand, a non-dominant face constitutes a winning face among liberal audiences but backfires among conservatives. These effects seemingly stem from deep-seated psychological responses and shape both the election and communication success of real-world politicians. If the faces of politicians do not match the ideology of their constituency, they are more likely to lose in the competition for votes and policy support.
- Subjects :
- Persuasion
Sociology and Political Science
media_common.quotation_subject
Face (sociological concept)
050109 social psychology
Political communication
Elections
Nonverbal communication
Politics
050602 political science & public administration
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Ideology
media_common
Communication
05 social sciences
Nonverbal cues
Source cues
Facial dominance
0506 political science
Focus (linguistics)
Dominance (ethology)
Followership psychology
Psychology
Social psychology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Laustsen, L & Petersen, M B 2016, ' Winning Faces Vary By Ideology : How Nonverbal Source Cues Influence Election and Communication Success in Politics ' Political Communication, vol 33, no. 2, pp. 188-211 ., 10.1080/10584609.2015.1050565, Laustsen, L & Petersen, M B 2016, ' Winning Faces Vary by Ideology: How Nonverbal Source Cues Influence Election and Communication Success in Politics ', Political Communication, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 188-211 . https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2015.1050565
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....d975d0a219ae14a69c769765c08b5b1b