This preregistered study replicates and extends studies concerning emotional response to wartime rally speeches and applies it to U.S. President Donald Trump's first national address regarding the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020. We experimentally test the effect of a micro-expression (ME) by Trump associated with appraised threat on change in participant self-reported distress, sadness, anger, affinity, and reassurance while controlling for followership. We find that polarization is perpetuated in emotional response to the address which focused on portraying the COVID-19 threat as being of Chinese provenance. We also find a significant, albeit slight, effect by Trump's ME on self-reported sadness, suggesting that this facial behavior served did not diminish his speech, instead serving as a form of nonverbal punctuation. Further exploration of participant response using the Linguistic Inventory and Word Count software reinforces and extends these findings.
How to translate text using browser tools
1 November 2024
The influence of President Trump's micro-expressions during his COVID-19 national address on viewers' emotional response
Patrick A. Stewart,
Elena Svetieva,
Jeffrey K. Mullins
ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE
It is not available for individual sale.
This article is only available to subscribers.
It is not available for individual sale.
It is not available for individual sale.
Politics and the Life Sciences
Vol. 43 • No. 2
Spring 2024
Vol. 43 • No. 2
Spring 2024
Covid-19
Donald Trump
emotion
LIWC
micro-expressions
rally-‘round-the-flag