Television Coverage of Candidates' Display Behavior during the 1984 Democratic Primaries in the United States
| Published date | 01 April 1987 |
| Date | 01 April 1987 |
| Author | Gregory J. Mchugo,Roger D. Masters,Alice Feola,Denis G. Sullivan |
| DOI | 10.1177/019251218700800203 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
121
Television
Coverage
of
Candidates’
Display
Behavior
during
the
1984
Democratic
Primaries
in
the
United
States
ROGER
D.
MASTERS,
DENIS
G.
SULLIVAN,
ALICE
FEOLA
AND
GREGORY
J.
MCHUGO
ABSTRACT.
Analysis
of
network
news
during
the
1984
presidential
campaign
shows
that
TV
coverage
of
Democratic
candidates
differed
in
frequency
and
in
the
kinds
of
expressive
displays
shown
over
the
course
of
the
pre-convention
period.
Although
political
success
was
generally
correlated
with
media
attention,
as
predicted
on
the
basis
of
ethology,
Jackson
was
more
successful
than
Mondale
in
becoming
the
unquestioned
focus
of
news
coverage.
Ethological
predictions
of
the
type
of display
behavior
shown
were
generally
consistent
with
the
data:
happy/reassurance
displays
were
more
frequent
in
interviews,
whereas
anger/threat
tended
to
be
shown
more
often
during
speeches,
and
political
success
was
generally
associated
with
an
increased
frequency
of
happy/reassurance
displays.
Combined
with
experimental
results
reported
elsewhere,
these
findings
help
to
explain
the
outcome
of
the
1984
campaign
and
suggest
that
nonverbal
leadership
cues
are
an
element
in
the
influence
of
television
in
contemporary
politics.
Facial
Displays
and
Political
Leadership
Research
in
human
ethology
has
shown
that
nonverbal
cues
of
leadership
play a
major
role
in
the
social
interactions
of
children
(Montagner,
1978;
Barner-Barry,
1981;
Strayer,
1981)
and
adults
(Masters,
1981;
G.
Schubert,
1983;
J.
Schubert,
1984).
Facial
displays
such
as
those
observed
in
nonhuman
primates
are
particularly
salient
to
humans,
both
as
ritualized
social
signals
and
as
expressions
of
emotion
(Eibl-Eibesfeldt,
1979;
Ekman
and
Oster,
1979;
Plutchik,
1980).
By
conveying
emotional
impressions
of
leaders
and
modifying
an
observer’s
attitudes,
such
gestures
can
have
a
significant
effect
on
the
political
process.
Since
voters’
emotional
responses
to
candidates
are
important
elements
in
the
voting
choice
(Abelson
et
al.,
1982),
nonverbal
displays
of
the
face
may
be
important
during
electoral
campaigns.
In
a
series
of
experiments,
we
have
found
that
televised
excerpts
of
leaders
elicit
emotional
and
cognitive
responses
in
a
way
that
could
influence
political
outcomes.
These
studies
have
focused
on
three
types
of
facial
display
that
play a
central
role
in
both
dominance
relations
among
primates
and
in
the
expression
of
human
emotion.
Videotapes
providing
homogeneous
examples
of
these
three
displays-called
&dquo;happy/reassurance,&dquo;
&dquo;anger/threat,&dquo;
and &dquo;
fear/evasion&dquo;-were
presented
to
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