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Theoretical Foundation for Emotion-Based Strategies in Political Campaigns

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The Social Psychology of Nonverbal Communication

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Abstract

The literature on political campaigns has dealt with the function of emotions and, to a lesser degree, with individual differences in susceptibility to various types of emotional appeals in such campaigns. Studies have included analyses of differential effects of the more emotional television medium versus alternatives such as newspapers (Hyeon & Becker, 1987), positive effects of generally low-distress social conditions on voter turnout (Joubert, 1995), adverse effects of neuroticism on political participation (Peterson & Maiden, 1992–1993), and temperament and adjustment-maladjustment correlates of political orientation (Mehrabian, 1996c). Political strategies that assumed centrist positions on issues (Davis, 1987) or those that employed ambiguous rhetoric (Dacey, 1979) were shown to be effective and are relevant also because the communication vacuum created by such tactics increased the significance of non-issue oriented emotional messages conveyed with nonverbal behavior, props, and buzz-words.

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Authors
  1. Albert Mehrabian
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Niš, Serbia

    Aleksandra Kostić (Professor of Social Psychology) (Professor of Social Psychology)

  2. University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies

    Derek Chadee (Professor of Social Psychology) (Professor of Social Psychology)

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© 2015 Albert Mehrabian

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Mehrabian, A. (2015). Theoretical Foundation for Emotion-Based Strategies in Political Campaigns. In: Kostić, A., Chadee, D. (eds) The Social Psychology of Nonverbal Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137345868_10

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