Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T13:21:33.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Displays of emotion and citizen support for Merkel and Gysi

How emotional contagion affects evaluations of leadership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2017

Oscar W. Gabriel*
Affiliation:
University of Stuttgart
Lena Masch
Affiliation:
University of Düsseldorf
*
Correspondence: Oscar W. Gabriel, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Political Science, Breitscheidstr. 2, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Emotional appeals have always been an important instrument in the mobilization of political support in modern societies. As found in several experimental studies from the United States, the emotions displayed by leading politicians in their televised public appearances have an impact on the political attitudes and behaviors of the public. Positive emotions such as joy or happiness, pride, and amusement elicit a more positive assessment of politicians, whereas showing negative emotions such as anger or outrage often diminishes the public’s support. This transfer of emotions from sender to recipient has been described as “emotional contagion.” However, under specific circumstances, emotions expressed by politicians can result in counter-empathic reactions among recipients. To examine the role of emotions between political leaders and the public in an institutional and cultural setting outside the United States, this article presents experimental findings on the impact of emotions expressed by two leading German politicians on the German public. The study used emotional displays by Chancellor Angela Merkel and former parliamentary leader of the Left Party, Gregor Gysi, observing how their assessments by the German public changed in response to these displays. Consistent with existing research, we discovered positive effects on the evaluation of both politicians when they displayed positive emotions. However, the impact of negative emotions is different for Merkel and Gysi and can be described as contagion in the former and counter-contagion in the latter case. Furthermore, we found that individual recognition of the expressed emotions modified the effect they had on the evaluation of some leadership characteristics.

Type
Articles
Copyright
© Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Van Kleef, G. A., The Interpersonal Dynamics of Emotion: Towards an Integrative Theory of Emotions as Social Information (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), p. 1.Google Scholar
Jackman, S. and Sniderman, P. M., “Institutional organization of choice spaces: a political conception of political psychology,” in Political Psychology, Monroe, K. R., ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002), pp. 209224.Google Scholar
Masters, R. D. and Sullivan, D. G., “Nonverbal displays and political leadership in France and the United States,” Political Behavior , 1989, 11(2): 123155, at p. 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brader, T., Campaigning for Hearts and Minds: How Emotional Appeals in Political Ads Work (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006).Google Scholar
Grabe, M. E. and Bucy, E. P., Image Bite Politics: News and the Visual Framing of Elections (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Schemer, C., Politische Kampagnen für Herz und Verstand: Affektive und kognitive Einflüsse der Massenmedien auf politische Einstellungen (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Der Spiegel, “Umfrage: Merkel löst Wulff ab,” Der Spiegel 01/2012, January 02, 2012, pp. 14–15, http://magazin.spiegel.de/EpubDelivery/spiegel/pdf/83422491.Google Scholar
Fiske, S. A., Cuddy, J. C., and Glick, P., “Universal dimensions of social cognition: Warmth and competence,” Trends in Cognitive Sciences , 2006, 11: 7783.Google Scholar
Forgas, J. P., “The role of emotion in social judgments: An introductory review and an affect infusion model (AIM),” European Journal of Social Psychology , 1994, 24(1): 124.Google Scholar
Davidson, R. J., Scherer, K. R., and Goldsmith, H. H., eds., Handbook of Affective Sciences (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).Google Scholar
Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., and Feldman Barrett, L., eds., Handbook of Emotions (New York: Guilford Press, 2008).Google Scholar
Brader, T. and Marcus, G. E., “Emotions and political psychology,” The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, 2nd ed. Huddy, L., Sears, D. O., and Levy, J. S., eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 165204.Google Scholar
Neuman, W. R., Marcus, G., Cigler, A., and MacKuen, M., eds., The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behavior (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007).Google Scholar
Redlawsk, D. P., ed., Feeling Politics: Emotions in Political Information Processing (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 5–6.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. E., “The structure of emotional response: 1984 presidential candidates,” American Political Science Review , 1988, 82(3): 737761.Google Scholar
Marcus, G. and MacKuen, M., “Emotions and politics: The dynamic functions of emotionality,” in Citizens and Politics: Perspectives from Political Psychology, Kuklinski, J. H., ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 4167.Google Scholar
MacKuen, M. et al. , “The third way: The theory of affective intelligence and American democracy,” in The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behavior, Neuman, R. W., Marcus, G., Crigler, A., and MacKuen, M., eds. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), pp. 124151.Google Scholar
Lodge, M. and Taber, C. S., “The automaticity of affect for political leaders, groups, and issues: An experimental test of the hot cognition hypothesis,” Political Psychology , 2005, 26(3): 455482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, M. and Taber, C. S., The Rationalizing Voter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).Google Scholar
Erisen, C., Lodge, M., and Taber, C. S., “Affective contagion in effortful political thinking,” Political Psychology , 2014, 35(2): 187206.Google Scholar
Glaser, J. and Salovey, P., “Affect in electoral politics,” Personality and Social Psychology Review , 1998, 2(3): 156172, at p. 156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brader and Marcus.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 79–169.Google Scholar
Brader, p. 109.Google Scholar
Lanzetta, J. T., Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., and McHugo, G. J., “Emotional and cognitive responses to televised images of political leaders,” in Mass Media and Political Thought: An Information-Processing Approach, Kraus, S. and Perloff, R. M., eds. (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1985), pp. 85116.Google Scholar
McHugo, G. J., Lanzetta, J. T., Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., and Englis, B. G., “Emotional reactions to a political leader’s expressive displays,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1985, 49: 15131529.Google Scholar
Masters, R. D., Sullivan, D. G., Lanzetta, J. T., McHugo, G. J., and Englis, B. G., “The facial displays of leaders: Toward an ethology of human politics,” Journal of Biological Structures , 1986, 9: 319343.Google Scholar
McHugo, G. J., Lanzetta, J. T., and Bush, L. K., “The effect of attitudes on emotional reactions to expressive display of political leaders,” Journal of Nonverbal Behavior , 1991, 15(1): 1941.Google Scholar
Sullivan, D. G. and Masters, R. D., “‘Happy warriors’: Leaders facial display, viewers emotions, and political support,” American Journal of Political Science , 1988, 32(2): 345368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, D. G., Masters, R. D., Lanzetta, J. T., McHugo, G. J., Englis, B. G., and Plate, E. F., “Facial displays and political leadership: Some experimental findings,” in Primate Politics, Schubert, G. and Masters, R. D., eds. (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991), pp. 188206.Google Scholar
Sullivan, D. G. and Masters, R. D., “Nonverbal behavior and leadership: Emotion and cognition in political information processing,” in Explorations in Political Psychology, Iyengar, S. and McGuire, W. J., eds. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993), pp. 150182.Google Scholar
Sullivan, D. G. and Masters, R. D., “Biopolitics, the media, and leadership: Nonverbal cues, emotions, and trait attributions in the evaluation of leaders,” in Research in Biopolitics, Somit, A. and Peterson, S. A., eds. (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1994), vol. 2, pp. 237273.Google Scholar
Sullivan, D. G., “Emotional response to the nonverbal behaviour of French and American political leaders,” Political Behavior , 1996, 18(3): 311325.Google Scholar
Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., and Ancoli, S., “Facial signs of emotional experience,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 1980, 39: 11251134.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, D., Keltner, D., Shiota, M. N., O’Sullivan, M., and Frank, M., “Facial expressions of emotions,” in Handbook of Emotions, Lewis, M., Haviland-Jones, J. M., and Feldman Barrett, L., eds. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), pp. 211234.Google Scholar
McHugo, Lanzetta, and Bush, p. 20.Google Scholar
Masters, R. D., Frey, S., and Bente, G., “Dominance and attention: Images of leaders in German, French, and American TV,” Polity , 1991, 23(3): 373394, at p. 378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan and Masters, 1988, p. 346.Google Scholar
Brader, pp. 109–119.Google Scholar
Bucy, E. P. and Bradley, S. D., “Presidential expressions and viewer emotions: Counterempathic reponses to televised leader displays,” Social Science Information , 2004, 43(1): 5994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bucy, E. P., The Emotional Appropriateness Heuristic: Viewer Assessments of Televised Presidential Reactions to Compelling News Events. Ph.D. dissertation (College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 1998).Google Scholar
Bucy, E. P. and Newhagen, J. E., “The emotional appropriateness heuristic: Processing televised presidential reactions to the news,” Journal of Communication , 1999, 49: 5979.Google Scholar
Bucy, E. P., “Emotional and evaluative consequences of inappropriate leader displays,” Communication Research , 2000, 27(2): 194226.Google Scholar
Bucy, E. P. and Grabe, M. E., “‘Happy warriors’ revisited: Hedonic and agonic display repertoires of presidential candidates on the evening news,” Politics and the Life Sciences , 2008, 27(1): 7898.Google Scholar
Haumer, F. and Donsbach, W., “The rivalry of nonverbal cues on the perception of politicians by television viewers,” Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media , 2009, 53(2): 262279.Google Scholar
Nagel, F., Maurer, M., and Reinemann, C., “Is there a visual dominance in political communication? How verbal, visual and vocal communication shape viewers’ impressions of political candidates,” Journal of Communication , 2012, 62: 833850.Google Scholar
Stewart, P. A. and Ford Dowe, P. K., “Interpreting President Obama’s facial displays of emotion: Revisiting the Dartmouth Group,” Political Psychology , 2013, 34(3): 369385.Google Scholar
Stewart, P. A., Bucy, E. P., and Mehu, M., “Strengthening bonds and connecting with followers: A biobehavioral inventory of political smiles,” Politics and the Life Sciences , 2015, 34(1): 7392.Google Scholar
Brader, pp. 112–129.Google Scholar
Dumitrescu, D., Gidengil, E., and Stolle, D., “Candidate confidence and electoral appeal: An experimental study of the effect of nonverbal confidence on voter evaluations,” Political Science Research and Methods , 2015, 3(1): 4352.Google Scholar
Haumer and Donsbach.Google Scholar
Schemer, C., “Wie Boulevardmedien Emotionen schüren: Der Einfluss der Mediennutzung auf Emotionen in politischen Kampagnen,” in Politische Kommunikation: Wahrnehmung, Verarbeitung, Wirkung, Schemer, C., Wirth, W., and Reinemann, C., eds. (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2013), pp. 133152.Google Scholar
Nagel and Maurer.Google Scholar
Maurer, M., “Der Einfluss verbaler und visueller Information auf die Urteilsbildung über Politiker,” in Politische Kommunikation: Wahrnehmung, Verarbeitung, Wirkung, Schemer, C., Wirth, W., and Reinemann, C., eds. (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2013), pp. 5370.Google Scholar
Mölders, C., Van Quaquebeke, N., and Paladino, M. P., “Consequences of politicians’ disrespectful communication depend on social judgment dimensions and voters’ moral identity,” Political Psychology , 2017, 38(1): 119135.Google Scholar
Sullivan and Masters, 1988, pp. 345–348.Google Scholar
Sullivan, pp. 311–312.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 62–67.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 24, 34–35.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 43–45.Google Scholar
Neumann, R. and Strack, F., “‘Mood contagion’: The automatic transfer of mood between persons,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 2000, 79(2): 211223.Google Scholar
Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., and Rapson, R. L., Emotional Contagion (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994).Google Scholar
Schoenewolf, G., “Emotional contagion: Behavioral induction in individuals and groups,” Modern Psychoanalysis , 1990, 15: 4961, at p. 50.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, H. A., “The many faces of emotional contagion: An affective process theory of affective linkage,” Organizational Psychology Review , 2014, 4(4): 326362.Google Scholar
Almohammad, A. H., “Toward a theory of political emotion causation,” Sage Open , published online August 12, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016662106.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 167–182.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, pp. 330–335.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 37–55, 198–201.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 65–67.Google Scholar
Zajonc, R. B., “On the primacy of affect,” American Psychologist , 1984, 39(2): 117123.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 9–11, 16–47.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 37–55.Google Scholar
Erisen, C., Affective Contagion: The Impact of Subtle Affective Cues in Political Thinking. Ph.D. dissertation (Stony Brook, NY: Stony Brook University, 2009).Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., “Thoughts on the relations between emotion and cognition,” American Psychologist , 1982, 37(9): 10191024.Google Scholar
Lazarus, R. S., “On the primacy of cognition,” American Psychologist , 1984, 39(2): 124129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lai, V. T., Hagoort, P., and Casasanto, D., “Affective primacy vs. cognitive primacy: Dissolving the debate,” Frontiers in Psychology , 2012, 2: 18.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 48–72.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 45–52.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 129–182.Google Scholar
Bucy and Grabe, pp. 79–84, with further references.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, pp. 330–347.Google Scholar
Lodge and Taber, 2013, pp. 58–59.Google Scholar
Rahn, W. M., “The role of partisan stereotypes in information processing about political candidates,” American Journal of Political Science , 1993, 37(2): 472496.Google Scholar
Bittner, A., “Leader evaluations and partisan stereotypes: a comparative analysis,” in Personality Politics? The Role of Leader Evaluations in Democratic Elections, Costa Lobo, M. and Curtice, J., eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 1737.Google Scholar
Kinder, D. R., “Presidential character revisited,” in Political Cognition, Lau, R. L. and Sears, D. R., eds. (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1986), pp. 233255.Google Scholar
Lodge and Taber, 2013, pp. 17–26.Google Scholar
Brader, p. 112.Google Scholar
Neuman, W. R., The Paradox of Mass Politics: Knowledge and Opinion and the American Electorate (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).Google Scholar
Dalton, R. J., Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies 6th ed. (Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2014), pp. 1536.Google Scholar
Lodge, M., McGraw, K. M., and Stroh, P., “An impression-driven model of candidate evaluation,” American Political Science Review , 1989, 83(2): 399419.Google Scholar
Brader, pp. 114–118.Google Scholar
Ohr, D. and Oscarsson, H., “Leader traits, leader image and vote choice,” in Political Leaders and Democratic Elections, Aarts, K., Blais, A., and Schmitt, H., eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 187214, with further references.Google Scholar
Lewis-Beck, M. and Nadeau, R., “Between leadership and charisma, the importance of leaders,” in Personality Politics? The Role of Leader Evaluations in Democratic Elections, Costa Lobo, M. and Curtice, J., eds. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), pp. 169190.Google Scholar
Fiske, Cuddy, and Glick, p. 77.Google Scholar
Abele, A. E. and Wojciszke, B., “Agency and communion from the perspective of self versus others,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 2007, 9(5): 751763.Google Scholar
Mölders, Van Quaquebeke, and Paladino, pp. 122–123.Google Scholar
Masters and Sullivan, pp. 140–142.Google Scholar
Sullivan, pp. 318–319.Google Scholar
Hareli, S., Berkovitch, N., Livnat, L., and David, S., “Anger and shame as determinants of perceived competence,” International Journal of Psychology , 2013, 48(6): 10801089.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 175–176.Google Scholar
Elfenbein, pp. 336–342.Google Scholar
Redlawsk, D. P. and Pierce, R. S., “Emotions and voting,” in The Sage Handbook of Electoral Behaviour, Arzheimer, K., Evans, J., and Lewis-Beck, M. S., eds. (Los Angeles: Sage, 2017), pp. 406432.Google Scholar
Forgas, J. P., Bower, G. H., and Krantz, S. E., “The influence of mood on perceptions of social interactions,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 1984, 20(6): 497513.Google Scholar
Gong, Z. H. and Bucy, E. P., “When style obscures substance: visual attention to display appropriateness in the 2012 presidential debates,” Communication Monographs , 2016, 83(3): 349372.Google Scholar
Montagne, B., Kessels, R. P. C., Frigerio, E., de Haan, E. H. F., and Perrett, D. I., “Sex differences in the perception of affective facial expressions: Do men really lack emotional sensitivity? Cognitive Processing , 2005, 6(2): 136141.Google Scholar
Zajonc, R. B., “Mere exposure: A gateway to the subliminal,” Current Directions in Psychological Science , 2001, 10(6): 224228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosar, U., Klein, M., and Beckers, T., “The frog pond beauty contest: Physical attractiveness and electoral success of the constituency candidates at the North Rhine-Westphalia state election of 2005,” European Journal of Political Research , 2008, 47(1): 6479.Google Scholar
Murray, G. R. and Schmitz, J. D., “Caveman politics: Evolutionary leadership preferences and physical stature,” Social Science Quarterly , 2001, 92(5): 12151235.Google Scholar
Murray, G. R., “Evolutionary preferences for physical formidability in leaders,” Politics and Life Sciences , 2014, 33(1): 3353.Google Scholar
Armstrong, J. S. and Graefe, A., “Predicting elections from biographical information about candidates: A test of the index method,” Journal of Business Research , 2011, 64(7): 699706.Google Scholar
Todorov, A., Mandisodza, A. N., Goren, A., and Hall, C. C., “Inferences of competence from faces predict election outcomes,” Science , 2005, 308(5728): 16231626.Google Scholar
Ballew, C. C. and Todorov, A., “Predicting political elections from rapid and unreflective face judgments,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 2007, 104(46): 1794817953.Google Scholar
Mattes, K., Spezio, M., Kim, H., Todorov, A., Adolphs, R., and Alvarez, R. M., “Predicting election outcomes from positive and negative trait assessments of candidate images,” Political Psychology , 2010, 31(1): 4158.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, S. W., Kahn, S., and Tran, T., “Creating a political image: Shaping appearance and manipulating the vote,” Political Behavior , 1991, 13(4): 345367.Google Scholar
White, A. E., Kenrick, D. T., and Neuberg, S. L., “Beauty at the ballot box: Disease threats predict preferences for physically attractive leaders,” Psychological Science , 2013, 24(12): 24292436.Google Scholar
Rattinger, H., Roßteutscher, S., Schmitt-Beck, R., Weßels, B., and Wolf, C., Wahlkampf-Medieninhaltsanalyse, Fernsehen (GLES 2013), 2015, GESIS Datenarchiv, Köln.Google Scholar
Mayo, C. W. and Crockett, W. H., “Cognitive complexity and primacy-recency effects in impression formation,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology , 1964, 68(3): 335338.Google Scholar
Falter, J. W., “Einmal mehr: Lässt sich das Konzept der Parteiidentifikation auf deutsche Verhältnisse übertragen? Theoretische, methodologische und empirische Probleme einer Validierung des Konstrukts ‘Parteiidentifikation’ für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland,” Politische Vierteljahresschrift , 1977, 18(2/3): 476500.Google Scholar
Abramson, P. R., Political Attitudes in America: Formation and Change (San Francisco: Freeman, 1983), pp. 7576.Google Scholar
Masters and Sullivan, pp. 138–147.Google Scholar
Sullivan and Masters, 1988, pp. 352–361.Google Scholar
Sullivan, pp. 317–320.Google Scholar
Brader, pp. 112–118.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 60–67.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 172–177.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 60–67.Google Scholar
Lau, R. L., “Political schemata, candidate evaluations, and voting behavior,” in Political Cognition, Lau, R. L. and Sears, D. R., eds. (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1986), pp. 95126.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 13–78.Google Scholar
Redlawsk and Pierce, p. 411.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 7–46.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 65–67.Google Scholar
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, pp. 128–132.Google Scholar
Van Kleef, pp. 184–190.Google Scholar
Hess, U., “Anger is a positive emotion,” in The Positive Side of Negative Emotions, Parrott, W. G., ed. (New York: Guilford Press, 2014), pp. 5575.Google Scholar
Bucy and Bradley, pp. 67–72.Google Scholar
Maurer, p. 63.Google Scholar
Masters and Sullivan.Google Scholar
Ohr, D., Klein, M., and Rosar, U., “Bewertungen der Kanzlerkandidaten und Wahlentscheidung bei der Bundestagswahl 2009,” in Wahlen und Wähler: Analysen aus Anlass der Bundestagswahl 2009, Wessels, B., Schoen, H., and Gabriel, O. W., eds. (Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2013), pp. 206230.Google Scholar
Ksiazkiewicz, A., Vitriol, J., and Farhart, C., “Implicit candidate-trait associations in political campaigns,” Political Psychology , 2017, published online March 9, 2017,https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12398.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 1

Supplementary Videos

Download Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 1(File)
File 28.2 MB
Supplementary material: File

Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 2

Supplementary Videos

Download Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 2(File)
File 28.8 MB
Supplementary material: File

Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 3

Supplementary Videos

Download Gabriel and Masch supplementary material 3(File)
File 28.9 MB