Despite the biological predisposition to recognize and mimic facial expressions, research has shown that contextual or experiential factors may elicit emotionally incongruent, or counterempathic, responses. This experimental study reports how counterempathic responses to televised leader displays may be evoked in political communication. Findings suggest that unexpected nonverbal communication is subject to cognitive appraisal, which may influence emotional responding. Subjects were shown a series of four news stories, each followed by a 30-second televised reaction of President Bill Clinton. The story–reaction sequences varied by story topic, level of emotion and degree of leader display appropriateness. Physiological (heart rate, skin conductance and facial muscle activation, or EMG) and emotional self-report measures indicated that evaluations of display appropriateness moderated how much attention was given to the display, the affective direction of viewers’ facial muscle activation and the level of autonomic activation, or arousal. The EMG data showed that viewers frowned in response to positive expressive displays that followed positive news. Smiling activation also decreased for high-intensity, positive displays. By manipulating the valence and intensity of the associated news event, facial mimicry, and emotional responses to leaders generally, are shown to be situationally influenced by the larger social and informational context.
Abelson, R. P. , Kinder, D. R. , Peters, M. D. and Fiske, S. T. (1982) ‘‘Affective and Semantic Components in Political Person Perception’’ , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology42: 619–630 .
2.
Babchuk, W. A. , Hames, R. B. and Thompson, R. A. (1985) ‘‘Sex Differences in the Recognition of Infant Facial Expressions of Emotion: The Primary Caretaker Hypothesis’’ , Ethology & Sociobiology6: 89–101 .
3.
Bolls, P. D. , Lang, A. and Potter, R. F. (2001) ‘‘The Effects of Message Valence and Listener Arousal on Attention, Memory, and Facial Muscular Responses to Radio Advertisements’’ , Communication Research28: 627–651 .
4.
Bradley, M. M. and Lang, P. J. (1994) ‘‘Measuring Emotion: The Self-Assessment Manikin and the Semantic Differential’’ , Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry25: 49–59 .
5.
Bucy, E. P. (2000) ‘‘Emotional and Evaluative Consequences of Inappropriate Leader Displays’’ , Communication Research27(2): 194–226 .
6.
Bucy, E. P. (2003) ‘‘Emotion, Presidential Communication, and Traumatic News: Processing the World Trade Center Attacks’’ , Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics8(4): 76–96 .
7.
Bucy, E. P. and Newhagen, J. E. (1999) ‘‘The Emotional Appropriateness Heuristic: Processing Televised Presidential Reactions to the News’’ , Journal of Communication49(4): 59–79 .
8.
Burgoon, J. K. (1993) ‘‘Interpersonal Expectations, Expectancy Violations, and Emotional Communication’’ , Journal of Language and Social Psychology12(1/2): 30–48 .
9.
Burgoon, J. K. and LePoire, B. A. (1993) ‘‘Effects of Communication Expectancies, Actual Communication, and Expectancy Discon.rmation on Evaluations of Communicators and Their Communication Behavior’’ , Human Communication Research20(1): 67–96 .
10.
Cacioppo, J. T. and Petty, R. E. (1981) ‘‘Electromyograms as Measures of Extent and Affectivity of Information Processing’’ , American Psychologist36: 441–456 .
11.
Cacioppo, J. T. , Petty, R. E. , Losch, M. E. and Kim, H. S. (1986) ‘‘Electromyographic Activity Over Facial Muscle Regions Can Differentiate the Valence and Intensity of Affective Reactions’’ , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology50: 260–268 .
12.
Camras, L. A. and Sachs, V. B. (1991) ‘‘Social Referencing and Caretaker Expressive Behavior in a Day Care Setting’’ , Infant Behavior and Development14: 27–36 .
13.
Cappella, J. N. (1993) ‘‘The Facial Feedback Hypothesis: Review and Speculation’’ , Journal of Language and Social Psychology12(1/2): 13–29 .
14.
Cupach, W. R. and Spitzberg, B. H. (1983) ‘‘Trait versus State: A Comparison of Dispositional and Situational Measures of Interpersonal Communication Competence’’ , Western Journal of Speech Communication47: 364–379 .
15.
Dimberg, U. (1982) ‘‘Facial Reactions to Facial Expressions’’ , Psychophysiology19: 643–647 .
16.
Dimberg, U. (1988) ‘‘Facial Expressions and Emotional Reactions: A Psychobiological Analysis of Human Social Behaviour’’, in H. L. Wagner (ed.) Social Psychophysiology and Emotion: Theory and Clinical Applications, pp. 131–150. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons .
17.
Drew, D. G. and Grimes, T. (1987) ‘‘Audio-visual Redundancy and TV News Recall’’ , Communication Research14: 452–461 .
18.
Ekman, P. and Friesen, W. V. (1975) Unmasking the Face. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall .
19.
Ekman, P. and Friesen, W. V. (1982) ‘‘Felt, False, and Miserable Smiles’’ , Journal of Nonverbal Behavior6: 238–258 .
20.
Englis, B. G. , Vaughan, K. B. and Lanzetta, J. T. (1982) ‘‘Conditioning of Counterempathetic Emotional Responses’’ , Journal of Experimental Social Psychology18: 375–391 .
21.
Fridlund, A. J. and Izard, C. E. (1983) ‘‘Electromyographic Studies of Facial Expressions of Emotions and Patterns of Emotion’’, in. J. T. Cacioppo and R. E. Petty (eds) Social Psychophysiology: A Sourcebook, pp. 243–286. New York: Guilford .
22.
Graber, D. A. (2002) Mass Media and American Politics, 6th edn.Washington, DC: CQ Press .
23.
Gray, J. A. (1987) The Psychology of Fear and Stress, 2nd edn.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
24.
Grimes, T. (1991) ‘‘Mild Auditory–Visual Dissonance in Television News May Exceed Viewer Attentional Capacity’’ , Human Communication Research18: 268–298 .
25.
Hazlett, R. L. and Hazlett, S. Y. (1999) ‘‘Emotional Response to Television Commercials: Facial EMG vs. Self-Report’’ , Journal of Advertising Research39(2): 7–23 .
26.
Hietanen, J. K. , Surakka, V. and Linnankoski, I. (1998) ‘‘Facial Electromyographic Responses to Vocal Affect Expressions’’ , Psychophysiology35(5): 530–536 .
27.
Hinde, R. A. (1982) Ethology. Glasgow: William Collins Sons .
28.
James, W. (1884) ‘‘What Is an Emotion?’’ , Mind9: 188–204 .
29.
Laird, I. D. , Alibozak, T. , Davainis, D. , Deignan, K. , Fontanella, K. , Hong, I. , Levy, I. and Pacheco, C. (1994) ‘‘Individual Differences in the Effects of Spontaneous Mimicry on Emotional Contagion’’ , Motivation and Emotion18: 231–247 .
30.
Lang, A. (1994) ‘‘What Can the Heart Tell Us about Thinking?’’, in A. Lang (ed.) Measuring Psychological Responses to Media, pp. 99–111. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates .
31.
Lang, A. (1995) ‘‘De.ning Audio/Video Redundancy from a Limited-Capacity Information Processing Perspective’’ , Communication Research22(1): 86–115 .
32.
Lang, A. , Dhillon, K. and Dong, Q. (1995) ‘‘The Effects of Emotional Arousal and Valence on Television Viewers’ Cognitive Capacity and Memory’’ , Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media39: 313–327 .
33.
Lang, A. , Newhagen, J. E. and Reeves, B. (1996) ‘‘Negative Video as Structure: Emotion, Attention, Capacity, and Memory’’ , Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media40: 460–477 .
34.
Lang, P. J. (1988) ‘‘What Are the Data of Emotion?’’, in V. Hamilton , G. H. Bower and N. C. Frijda (eds) Cognitive Perspectives on Emotion and Motivation, pp. 173–191. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers .
35.
Lang, P. J. , Greenwald, M. , Bradley, M. M. and Hamm, A. O. (1993) ‘‘Looking at Pictures: Evaluative, Facial, Visceral, and Behavioral Responses’’ , Psychophysiology30: 261–273 .
36.
Lanzetta, J. T. and Englis, B. G. (1989) ‘‘Expectations of Cooperation and Competition and Their Effects on Observers’ Vicarious Emotional Responses’’ , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology56: 543–554 .
37.
Lanzetta, J. T. , Sullivan, D. G. , Masters, R. D. and McHugo, G. J. (1985) ‘‘Emotional and Cognitive Responses to Televised Images of Political Leaders’’, in. S. Kraus and R. M. Perloff (eds) Mass Media and Political Thought: An Information-Processing Approach, pp. 85–116. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage .
38.
Levenson, R. W. (1996) ‘‘Biological Substrates of Empathy and Facial Modulation of Emotion: Two Facets of the Scienti.c Legacy of John Lanzetta’’ , Motivation and Emotion20(3): 185–204 .
39.
Lorenz, K. (1966) On Aggression. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World .
40.
Lorenz, K. (1970–1) Studies in Animal and Human Behavior, 2 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press . (Orig. published 1931–63.)
41.
McHugo, G. J. and Smith, C. A. (1996) ‘‘The Power of Faces: A Review of John T. Lanzetta’s Research on Facial Expression and Emotion’’ , Motivation and Emotion20(2): 85–120 .
42.
McHugo, G. J. , Lanzetta, J. T. and Bush, L. K. (1991) ‘‘The Effect of Attitudes on Emotional Reactions to Expressive Displays of Political Leaders’’ , Journal of Nonverbal Behavior15(1): 19–41 .
43.
McHugo, G. J. , Lanzetta, J. T. , Sullivan, D. G. , Masters, R. D. and Englis, B. G. (1985) ‘‘Emotional Reactions to a Political Leader’s Expressive Displays’’ , Journal of Personality and Social Psychology49(6): 1513–1529 .
44.
McIntosh, D. N. (1996) ‘‘Facial Feedback Hypotheses: Evidence, Implications, and Directions’’ , Motivation and Emotion20(2): 121–147 .
45.
Marcus, G. E. , Neuman, W. R. and MacKuen, M. (2000) Affective Intelligence and Political Judgment. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
46.
Masters, R. D. (2001) ‘‘Cognitive Neuroscience, Emotion, and Leadership’’, in J. H. Kuklinski (ed.) Citizens and Politics: Perspectives from Political Psychology, pp. 68–102. New York: Cambridge University Press .
47.
Masters, R. D. and Sullivan, D. G. (1993) ‘‘Nonverbal Behavior and Leadership: Emotion and Cognition in Political Information Processing’’, in S. Iyengar and W. J. McGuire (eds) Explorations in Political Psychology, pp. 150–182. Durham, NC: Duke University Press .
48.
Masters, R. D. , Frey, S. and Bente, G. (1991) ‘‘Dominance and Attention: Images of Leaders in German, French, and American TV News’’ , Polity25: 373–394 .
49.
Masters, R. D. , Sullivan, D. G. , Lanzetta, J. T. , McHugo, G. J. and Englis, B. G. (1986) ‘‘Facial Displays of Leaders: Toward an Ethology of Human Politics’’ , Journal of Social and Biological Structures9: 319–343 .
Newhagen, J. E. (1993) ‘‘SLIMY: A Demonstration of the Psychological Instrumentation for Memory and Yes/No Responses’’ , paper presented to the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Washington, DC.
52.
Newhagen, J. E. and Reeves, B. (1992) ‘‘This Evening’s Bad News: Effects of Compelling Negative Television News Images on Memory’’ , Journal of Communication42(2): 25–41 .
53.
Plutchik, R. (1980) Emotion: A Psychoevolutionary Synthesis. New York: Harper and Row .
54.
Reeves, B. and Nass, C. (1996) The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places. New York: Cambridge University Press .
55.
Shoemaker, P. J. (1996) ‘‘Hardwired for News: Using Biological and Cultural Evolution to Explain the Surveillance Function’’ , Journal of Communication46(3): 32–47 .
56.
Shook, F. (2000) Television Field Production and Reporting, 3rd edn.New York: Longman .
57.
Smith, C. A. , McHugo, G. J. and Kappas, A. (1996) ‘‘Overarching Themes and Enduring Contributions of the Lanzetta Research Program’’ , Motivation and Emotion20(3): 237–253 .
58.
Sorce, J. F. , Emde, R. N. , Campos, J. J. and Klinnert, M. D. (1985) ‘‘Maternal Emotional Signaling: Its Effect on the Visual Cliff Behavior of 1-Year-Olds’’ , Developmental Psychology21: 195–200 .
59.
Sullivan, D. G. and Masters, R. D. (1994) ‘‘Biopolitics, the Media, and Leadership: Nonverbal Cues, Emotions, and Trait Attributions in the Evaluation of Leaders’’, in A. Somit and S. A. Peterson (eds) Research in Biopolitics, Vol. 2, pp. 237–273. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press .
60.
Tassinary, L. G. and Cacioppo, J. T. (2000) ‘‘The Skeletomotor System: Surface Electromyography’’, in J. T. Cacioppo , L. G. Tassinary and G. G. Bernstson (eds) Handbook of Psychophysiology, 2nd edn. pp. 163–199. New York: Cambridge University Press .
61.
Tomkins, S. S. (1962) Affect, Imagery, and Consciousness, Vol. 1: The Positive Affects. New York: Springer .
62.
Watanabe, S. , Kakigi, R. , Koyama, S. and Kirino, E. (1999) ‘‘Human Face Perception Traced by Magneto- and Electro-encephalography’’ , Cognitive Brain Research8: 125–142 .
63.
Way, B. M. and Masters, R. D. (1996) ‘‘Political Attitudes: Interactions of Cognition and Affect’’ , Motivation and Emotion20(3): 205–236 .
64.
Wexler, B. E. , Warrenburg, S. , Schwartz, G. E. and Janer, L. D. (1992) ‘‘EEG and EMG Responses to Emotion-Evoking Stimuli Processed without Conscious Awareness’’ , Neuropsychologia30: 1065–1079 .
65.
Zajonc, R. B. (1984) ‘‘On the Primacy of Affect’’ , American Psychologist39(2): 117–123 .
