The facial displays of leaders: Toward an ethology of human politics

An investigation into the perception of dominance from schematic faces: A study using the World-Wide Web

“…primate societies is usually an appeasement gesture (Morris, 1967;Van Hooff, 1972). Contemporary literature investigating human societies contains reports that smiling behavior is common in the facial repertoire ofleaders (Butler & Geis, 1990;Masters, Sullivan, Lanzetta, McHugo, & Englis, 1986). This effect is demonstrated with the present British prime minister, Tony Blair, and with President Bill Clinton, who are both seen by some to be skilled proponents of the dominant smile.…”

“Seeing is believing”: The effects of facial expressions of emotion and verbal communication in social dilemmas

“…Displays of happiness communicate appeasement and feelings of reassurance, thereby discouraging aggressive or flight responses in others (Masters, Sullivan, Lanzettta, McHugo, & Englis, 1986;Hess, Blairy, & Kleck, 2000). Moreover, happiness expressions also signal that one is more likely to be cooperative (Ketelaar, Koenig, Tost, Davis, & Russell, 2006).…”

Advances in Research Using the C-SPAN Archives

“…Furthermore, the sender's intent is influenced by the context within which this information is sent. While strides have been made in recent years, much of the research concerning politicians over the past 30 years has relied on molar interpretations of behavior that rely upon more general gestalt definitions of emotional displays to understand support towards these representatives (Dumitrescu, Gidengil, & Stolle, 2015;Masters, Sullivan, Lanzetta, McHugo, & Englis, 1986;McHugo, Lanzetta, Sullivan, Masters, & Englis, 1985;Sullivan & Masters, 1988). With molar approaches, behavior is clustered into a limited number of discrete categories, albeit with the understanding that the stochastic nature of nonverbal interaction limits precision concerning the identification of emotions and behavioral intent that may be inferred (Salter, 2007).…”

“…We draw from the work of the Dartmouth Group and their followers (Masters et al, 1986;Salter, 2007;Stewart, Salter, & Mehu, 2009;Sullivan & Masters, 1994;Sullivan & Masters, 1988), albeit with elaborations made possible by advances in human ethology through the CPM (Mehu & Scherer, 2012;Scherer & Meuleman, 2013). Specifically, we consider the six emotion clusters connected with the political behaviors of dominance (anger and disgust), submission (fear and sadness), and affiliation (happiness and contentment), which are then presented as choices to participants when identifying the behavior of the candidates.…”