Newswise — FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Patrick Stewart, associate professor of political science at the University of Arkansas, analyzes non-verbal communication in politics with a focus on presidential primary debates.
His latest analysis, of the Aug. 6 FOX News presidential primary debate, was released today and is available at Research Frontiers. It can provide context and data useful in coverage of the upcoming debate on Sept. 16.
The analysis looks at camera angle, speaking time and other factors that influence how candidates are perceived by the viewing public at home. The data shows vast differences in speaking time and camera angle afforded each candidate.
“What is most interesting is our finding that when the debate was analyzed in depth, there was a marked difference not only in how much each of the Republican Party candidates spoke, but the number of speaking turns by the GOP presidential contenders,” Stewart wrote.
In addition to his book Debatable Humor: Laughing Matters on the 2008 Presidential Primary Campaign (2012), Stewart has published research concerning nonverbal communication by politicians in numerous journals and provided analysis to CNN, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, NPR and more. He is a certified Facial Action Coding System (FACS) coder and is researching how individuals respond to different types of facial displays by presidential candidates, and how the emotion of disgust influences political attitudes and opinions.
CONTACTS: Patrick Stewart, associate professor, political scienceJ. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences870-933-0907, [email protected]
Amy Schlesing, director of science and research communicationsUniversity relations479-575-3033, [email protected]
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