The Image and the Vote Manipulating Voters' Preferences

Rosenberg, Shawn W.; McCAFFERTY, Patrick

doi:10.1086/269012

Cited by 118 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…People who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won, while those who watched on television preferred Kennedy (Jamieson and Birdsell 1988;Kraus 1988;Druckman 2003). Similarly, with other factors held constant, more attractive candidates are preferred over less attractive ones (Sigelman, Sigleman, and Fowler 1987) and changes in facial expressions cause shifts in voting preferences (Rosenberg and McCafferty 1987). More recently, ratings of the candidates' competence based solely on their facial appearance predicted the outcome of congressional elections at better than chance levels (Todorov et al 2005;Willis and Todorov 2006).…”

Section: Cognitive and Nonverbal Bases Of Candidate Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Bailenson¹,

Iyengar²,

Yee³

et al. 2008

Public Opinion Quarterly

159

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Social science research demonstrates that people are drawn to others perceived as similar. We extend this finding to political candidates by comparing the relative effects of candidate familiarity as well as partisan, issue, gender, and facial similarity on voters' evaluations of candidates. In Experiment 1, during the week of the 2006 Florida gubernatorial race, a national representative sample of voters viewed images of two unfamiliar candidates (Crist and Davis) morphed with either themselves or other voters. Results demonstrated a strong preference for facially similar candidates, despite no conscious awareness of the similarity manipulation. In Experiment 2, one week before the 2004 presidential election, a national representative sample of voters evaluated familiar candidates (Bush and Kerry). Strong partisans were unmoved by the facial similarity manipulation, but weak partisans and independents preferred the candidate with whom their own face had been morphed over the candidate morphed with another voter. In Experiment 3, we compared the effects of policy similarity and facial similarity using a set of prospective 2008 presidential candidates. Even though the effects of party and policy similarity dominated, facial similarity proved a significant cue for unfamiliar candidates. Thus, the evidence across the three studies suggests that even in high-profile elections, voters prefer candidates high in facial similarity, but most strongly with unfamiliar candidates.

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Section: Cognitive and Nonverbal Bases Of Candidate Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Bailenson¹,

Iyengar²,

Yee³

et al. 2008

Public Opinion Quarterly

159

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although visual imagery is an essential element of media-based campaigns, with the exception of a few scattered studies on candidates' attractiveness (e.g. Efran & Patterson, 1974;Redlawsk & Lau, 2003;Rosenberg & McCafferty, 1987), political scientists have tended to discount the significance of nonverbal cues. In fact, political communication researchers generally take for granted that candidates' visual attributes are secondary to message-based considerations including their policy positions, character traits (such as competence and integrity), performance credentials, and, most notably, partisan affiliation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformed Facial Similarity as a Political Cue: A Preliminary Investigation

Bailenson

Garland

Iyengar

et al. 2006

Political Psychology

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Experimental subjects evaluated a candidate for local office whose face was digitally altered to absorb the subjects' facial structure. For half of the subjects, the photograph of the candidate was morphed such that the image presented was a blend composed of 60% of the unfamiliar Caucasian male and 40% of the subject. For the other half the photograph was unaltered. Given previous research on implicit familiarity (Zajonc, 1968(Zajonc, , 1980, we predicted that the morph would advantage the candidate. The results demonstrated no main effect of the similarity manipulation.However, there was a robust similarity by gender interaction. Male subjects evaluated the morphed candidate more favorably than the unaltered photograph, while female subjects rated him more negatively. We discuss potential explanations for this interaction effect, and explore the possible implications of facial similarity as a political cue in both high-and low-information elections. Facial Similarity as a Political Cue 3 TRANSFORMED FACIAL SIMILARITY AS A POLITICAL CUE:A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION Does a candidate's appearance matter to voters? Although visual imagery is an essential element of media-based campaigns, with the exception of a few scattered studies on candidates' attractiveness (e.g. Efran & Patterson, 1974;Redlawsk & Lau, 2003;Rosenberg & McCafferty, 1987), political scientists have tended to discount the significance of nonverbal cues. In fact, political communication researchers generally take for granted that candidates' visual attributes are secondary to message-based considerations including their policy positions, character traits (such as competence and integrity), performance credentials, and, most notably, partisan affiliation. This explicitly cognitive or substantive calculus is thought to be so dominant that even in campaigns where candidates' non-verbal and physical attributes, most notably their race and gender, do influence vote preference, researchers attribute the connection to voters' tendency to infer particular policy positions from these attributes. Gender, for instance, is taken as a liberal "signal" because most voters believe that women are generally more liberal and inclined to oppose "male" positions such as increased military spending or harsh remedies for crime (McDermott, 1988;Iyengar et al., 1997). Similarly, increased support for African-American candidates among African-American voters is considered symptomatic of group solidarity or policy agreement (Bobo & Gilliam, 1990). In effect, a candidate's race or gender is thought to trigger gender or race-based stereotypes, which include links about the candidate's preferences on the issues. Facial Similarity as a Political Cue 4It is true that race and gender are both transparent visual cues. Yet, as the work described above suggests, they do not represent purely individual-level attributes. To be seen as a woman or African-American directs attention both to group and individual attributes. Group interests, of course, are closely embedded in Amer...

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“…Hergovich et al 2002;Rosenberg/McCaerty 1987;Rosenberg et al 1991 Seltenheit (vgl. exemplarisch Henss 1992;Patzer 1985).…”

Section: Wie Physische Attraktivität Gemessen Werden Kannunclassified

Physische Attraktivität und soziale Ungleichheit. Einige grundsätzliche Anmerkungen zu einem in der soziologischen Forschung kaum beachteten Prädiktor sozialer Ungleichheit

Rosar¹,

Klein²,

Hagenah³

2014

Analyse &Amp; Kritik

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Physische Attraktivität und soziale Ungleichheit. Einige grundsätzliche Anmerkungen zu einem in der soziologischen Forschung kaum beachteten Prädiktor sozialer Ungleichheit Abstract: The external appearance of a person is an important predictor for his or her social success. This nding has been veried by numerous mostly social psychological oriented empirical studies on physical attractiveness for many phases and areas of life. At the same time, sociological research on social inequality has hardly paid any attention to the social relevance of physical attractiveness. In order to begin to close this gap, the article provides insight into attractiveness research results and highlights the importance of further research into the impact of attractiveness on causing social inequality. We will rst give an overview of the areas of life in which the ecacy of physical attractiveness has already been demonstrated. Then we will discuss the mechanisms through which the external appearance of a person develops its eect, until nally, we will explain how physical attractiveness can be measured.Wer

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The Image and the Vote Manipulating Voters' Preferences

Cited by 118 publications

References 17 publications

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Facial Similarity between Voters and Candidates Causes Influence

Transformed Facial Similarity as a Political Cue: A Preliminary Investigation

Physische Attraktivität und soziale Ungleichheit. Einige grundsätzliche Anmerkungen zu einem in der soziologischen Forschung kaum beachteten Prädiktor sozialer Ungleichheit

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