How Politician Smiles Can Swing Voter Support

Summary: The type of smile displayed by political leaders can significantly influence voters' preferences and support for their political programs. The study distinguishes between “reward” and “affiliation” smiles, analyzing their effects on voters' reactions to leaders in the 2019 UK general election.

The results indicated that Boris Johnson's affiliative smile, a sign of approachability and cooperation, aligned voters' sentiments with his political message and was instrumental in his electoral success. In contrast, the reward smile, which expresses authentic joy, did not produce the same alignment, particularly among supporters of opposing parties.

Highlights:

1. Types of smiles analyzed: The “reward” smile is linked to genuine joy and builds confidence, while the “affiliation” smile conveys approachability and is essential for building cooperative relationships.
2. Impact on voters’ emotions: Johnson's affiliative smile after the election increased happiness and affinity among voters of all parties, while his reward smile increased anger and distress among opposition supporters.
3. Influence on electoral success: The study highlights how nonverbal cues like smiles can be used strategically to improve personal appeal and influence voter behavior, beyond just party policies.

Source: Aston University

New research led by Dr Carl Senior of Aston University has found that the type of smile a political leader uses can influence voters to support them and their political agenda.

There are many different types of smiles, and the researchers, who also included Professor Patrick Stewart from the University of Arkansas, USA, Professor Erik Bucy from Texas Tech University, USA, and Professor Nick Lee from the Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, UK, focused on two in particular the reward smile and the affiliation smile.

They used videos of political leaders from the 2019 British general election, won by the Conservative Party, then led by Boris Johnson. The Labor Party, then led by Jeremy Corbyn, came in second place. Jo Swinson was the leader of the third-placed Liberal Democrat party.

The reward smile is a genuine or felt smile associated with joy and enthusiasm. It's the smile most likely to be contagious with onlookers and has been linked to higher levels of confidence.

The affiliative smile, for its part, communicates accessibility, recognition and reassurance. It is associated with an affinity with the viewer and is considered important for developing cooperative relationships.

Researchers selected volunteers claiming to be supporters of each of the three main parties and showed them the same video footage of the three leaders Johnson, Corbyn and Swinson before and after the 2019 election.

The team assessed the candidates' emotional response to the different smiles, whether positive (happiness and affinity) or negative (anger and distress).

When shown images of election winner Johnson's affiliative smile after the election, people in all groups showed increases in their happiness and affinity compared to when they were shown showed the images before the election.

Supporters of losing parties showed an overall decrease in negative affect. Only this affiliative smile has been found to act as a mechanism for aligning voters' feelings and behavior with the dominant or winning political message.

The reward smile did not have the same effect. Labor supporters showed an increased level of anger and distress upon seeing Johnson's rewarding smile after the election compared to before.

The effects for Corbyn and Swinson were less marked, demonstrating that they failed to significantly change voters' reaction to them. Their appeal was somewhat staid and didn't match Johnson's charm.

Johnson exploited voters' sense of annoyance at the slow pace of the Brexit process with his Get Brexit done slogan, while Corbyn's position was ambiguous. Swinson's party was pro-European but lacked Johnson's performative skills to link a strong message to his non-verbal communication.

Previous work by various researchers has shown that observers judge leadership traits and behaviors, or lack thereof, from nonverbal cues such as facial expressions. However, until now, little research has been conducted outside the United States on the effect of facial displays on voter behavior.

Dr Senior said:

The human smile can convey both rewarding and affiliative social intent and therefore has significant utility in politics, where the ability to connect with and reassure voters is essential to electoral success. We are experiencing an unprecedented year as numerous elections are planned on several continents.

“The outcome of these campaigns will have a significant impact on millions of people across vast geopolitical regions. Given that almost all politicians involved in these election campaigns will make full use of broadcast media to reach voters, it is crucial to understand the effectiveness of their nonverbal manifestations in changing their voting preferences.

Professor Lee said:

The individual appeal of party leaders has become increasingly influential. A smile alone cannot win an election. But Johnson's personal appeal transcended party policies, connecting with people who hadn't planned to vote for him.

The advantage for today's politicians is that charisma is not an innate quality. It can be taught. By paying attention to their facial behavior and ensuring they display the right smile in the right context, they can still harness the power of emotional responses. This is something leaders of all organizations can learn.

The researchers say more work is needed to understand how smiles work with other verbal and nonverbal displays to generate affinity among voters and convey social dominance to other leaders.

About this research news in political psychology

Author: Helene Tunnicliffe
Source: Aston University
Contact: Helen Tunnicliffe – Aston University
Picture: Image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original research: Free access.
“Winners and losers: emotional changes during elections are conveyed by the smile of politicians» by Carl Senior et al. PLOS ONE

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Abstract

Winners and losers: emotional changes during elections are conveyed by the smile of politicians

The human smile can convey both rewarding and affiliative social intent and therefore has significant utility in politics, where the ability to connect with and reassure voters is essential to electoral success.

We examine evidence from the 2019 UK general election to investigate the influence of a politician's reward or affiliative smile on voters' emotions. It was hypothesized that the winners' affiliative smile would engender a positive impact across all partisan groups compared to displaying the winners' reward smile.

Participants from a nationally representative sample were shown campaign images showing both types of smiles from leaders of major competing political parties, before and after the election.

An increase in happiness and affinity was revealed across all partisan groups when images of eventual winners' affiliative smiles were shown; at the same time, supporters of losing parties reported decreased negative affect. Affinity has been shown to increase civic engagement.

Thus, we conclude that the affiliative smiles displayed by major candidates during the campaign likely acted as a mechanism to align voter behavior with the dominant political message.