Television Coverage of Candidates' Display Behavior during the 1984 Democratic Primaries in the United States

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.

“Happy warriors” Revisited: Hedonic and agonic display repertoires of presidential candidates on the evening news

“…19 These categories draw on research from primate and human ethology, which has found that different patterns of display behavior are associated with distinct roles in rivalry for dominance. 20,21 As composite terms, anger/threat, fear/evasion, and happiness/reassurance reflect the duality of the emotion being expressed (i.e., as expressions) and the social signals communicated (i.e., as displays). 22 Although we use these terms interchangeably, any content analysis of news coverage can only measure the visible display and can not assume the associated emotion was genuinely felt by the communicator.…”

“…76 During the 1984 Democratic primaries, Mondale was more likely than his rivals to exhibit fear/evasion in his speeches and was less effective in communicating warm emotions to reinforce the support of favorably disposed viewers. 77,78 Even though he managed to win the Democratic nomination over Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson, Mondale ''failed to secure the focus of attention usually reserved for the winner [and] never successfully united the traditional Democratic constituencies.'' 79 In the general election debates with Reagan, the younger Mondale was rated as less expressive and less physically attractive than Reagan and exhibited a high rate of blinking -more than once per second, on average 80 -indicating nervousness and tension.…”

“…77,78 Even though he managed to win the Democratic nomination over Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson, Mondale ''failed to secure the focus of attention usually reserved for the winner [and] never successfully united the traditional Democratic constituencies.'' 79 In the general election debates with Reagan, the younger Mondale was rated as less expressive and less physically attractive than Reagan and exhibited a high rate of blinking -more than once per second, on average 80 -indicating nervousness and tension. 81 Bob Dole similarly exhibited a high blinking rate and was viewed as sour and visually unappealing in the 1996 presidential debates against Bill Clinton.…”

“…86,87 A similar pattern was found in network news coverage of the 1984 Democratic primaries, where political success was generally associated with an increase in happiness/reassurance depictions and losing status with a tendency for candidates to be shown exhibiting more anger/threat. 88 Assuming that network campaign coverage has continued to frame leaders in a positive light and trailers in a negative light, it can be predicted that relative standing in the horse race will influence nonverbal communication such that: H 1 : Leading candidates will exhibit more hedonic behavior (both visually and in verbal tone) than trailing candidates.…”

A historical perspective on nonverbal communication in debates: Implications for elections and leadership

“…In an experiment, Goethals found that Reagan's one-liners in debates helped voters see Reagan as a winner, but also important was the way he said it, his body movements, physical action, his facial expressions, or in other words, his nonverbal behaviors. Other studies showed that Mondale's facial expressions did not communicate warmth or reassurance at all to voters (Masters, Sullivan, Feola, & McHugo, 1987;Sullivan & Masters, 1988), so in effect, Mondale's nonverbal behaviors were not as good as Reagan's. In fact, nonverbal communication may be more important than the words candidates say.…”