The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior to Political Stature: The Political Interviews of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Abstract

The study presents an innovative model for examining both the relationship between the verbal and nonverbal behavior of a political figure in political interviews and the effects of his=her political stature on his=her performance. The uniqueness of the model lies in the simultaneous examination of the two channels of communication, the verbal and nonverbal and the definition of their relationship, e.g., discrepancy when there is a contradiction and inconsistency between the channels, and nondiscrepancy when they are consistent and do not contradict each other. The model characterizes patterns of discrepancy and non-discrepancy both in the behavior of the interviewer and in that of the interviewee and relates them to the political standing of the interviewee. The study examined the behavior of Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon in television appearances over the past 20 years, in which he had both periods of strong political standing as well as periods of low political status. Findings significantly show that patterns of discrepancy and non-discrepancy between the verbal and the nonverbal messages are indicative of the political stature of the political person being interviewed. The findings have interesting methodological and theoretical implications.

Credibility Enacted: Understanding the Meaning of Credible Political Leadership in the Dutch Parliamentary Election Campaign of 2010

“…Parties and issues are certainly not superfluous for evaluating politics and developing political preferences, but political candidates are the prime representatives of their parties and it is up to them to communicate their issue positions persuasively and to gain support (Campus 2010;Langer 2007;Langer 2010;McAllister 2007). It is not surprising, therefore, that one of the central premises of political marketing research is that political leaders' images are important for electoral success and political support, and that a great deal of research in this discipline has been devoted to studying image (Garzia 2013;Grebelsky-Lichtman 2010;Newman 1999;Sheafer 2008;Smith 2009). Citizens form an impression of leaders by integrating information acquired from leaders' physical characteristics, their media performances, and their record as a political leader (Newman and Perloff 2004;Newman 1999;McGraw 2003).…”

The Positive Effect of Contradictory Information: The Effect of Verbal/ Nonverbal Discrepancy on Brand Attitudes in the Short Term and the Long Term

“…This pattern mitigates the negative verbal message and helps establish a credible image of self-confidence, ease, and control. This type of discrepancy enhances cooperation [16] and expresses a pattern in which the gap between the channels and the verbal negative information may have a positive value for communication and persuasion. This is explained by the fact that the discounting verbal communication is received in a context of positive nonverbal content, and is therefore perceived as specific and less threatening.…”

“…This pattern mitigates the negative verbal message and helps establish a credible image of self-confidence, ease, and control. This type of discrepancy enhances cooperation [16] and expresses a pattern in which the gap between the channels and the verbal negative information may have positive value for communication and persuasion.…”

“…This is explained by the fact that the discounting verbal communication is received in a context of positive nonverbal content, and is therefore perceived as specific and less threatening. The positive nonverbal communication expresses security and calmness, which mitigates the negative verbal message and helps establish a credible image of self-confidence, ease, and control [15,16].…”

“…This pattern mitigates the negative verbal message and helps establish a credible image of self-confidence, ease, and control. This type of discrepancy enhances cooperation [16] and expresses a pattern in which the gap between the channels and the verbal negative information may have positive value for communication and persuasion.The inhibitory categories include negative congruency (an expression of both verbal and nonverbal negative messages) and leakage discrepancy (an expression of positive verbal message and negative nonverbal message); (Figure 1). …”