Research considering the effect of Presidential speech making style shows individuals are likely to attend to and be emotionally affected by the facial expressions of leaders, especially those that are inappropriate for the context. In this study we tested how rapid and subtle expressions of facial affect (i.e., expressions of less than onesecond, often termed micro-expressions) in speeches by a political leader impacts participants' emotional state. We do this by removing seven brief expressions (less than onesecond) from a nearly twelve minute televised speech by President George H. W. Bush concerning the 1990 commitment of US military in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. FACS coding identified all these expressions as containing a component of smiling (lip corner puller: AU12), in some cases with the addition of other facial movements (sometimes associated with anger and/or disgust). Experiments carried out on 206 university undergraduates showed emotional state was altered as a result of these microexpressions when the control (unaltered speech) and experimental group (micro-expressions removed from speech) were compared. Specifically, participants who viewed the micro-expressions felt less threatened and less angry. Thus, facial expression (even very brief micro-expressions) can have a significant impact on the receiver of a political speech.

This study considers the effect of participants' evaluation of self-deprecatory and otherdeprecatory (attack) humorous comments made by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain during the 2008 electoral season. Humor, by evoking laughter in an audience, provides evidence of support for competitors for a leadership position through social contagion, and can be used to attack competitors (Alexander, 1986) while sanctioning behavior at odds with group norms, whereas humor focused on oneself may be seen as a way of attending to egalitarian norms while ascending the dominance hierarchy (Boehm, 1999). A total of 185 participants analyzed here took part in a webbased experiment carried out 2 weeks before the 2008 presidential election. Short video excerpts of the presidential candidates making both self-deprecatory and otherdeprecatory humorous comments serve as stimuli. Findings suggest previously held opinions about the presidential candidates influence participant evaluation of humorous comments by the candidates. These comments, in turn, influence how participants evaluate the candidate making the humorous comment.

Public approval ratings of George W. Bush surged after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks. This study used a quasi-experimental, within-respondents design to investigate the relative contribution of five factors to this classic rally effect: the stimulus event itself, Bush's speech that evening, media exposure, partisan support, and gender effects. Respondents were pretested on the morning of the attacks; one group was posttested immediately after the speech, another group 41 hours later. Stability of effects was examined through an additional study of Bush's 20 September 2001 speech to a joint session of Congress. The findings indicate that Bush's 11 September speech was the critical factor in this rally effect; none of the other factors contributed significantly.

Research investigating the influence and character of nonverbal leader displays has been carried out in a systematic fashion since the early 1980s, yielding growing insight into how viewers respond to the televised facial display behavior of politicians. This article reviews the major streams of research in this area by considering the key ethological frameworks for understanding dominance relationships between leaders and followers and the role nonverbal communication plays in politics and social organization. The analysis focuses on key categories of facial display behavior by examining an extended selection of published experimental studies considering the influence of nonverbal leader behavior on observers, the nature of stimuli shown to research participants, range of measures employed, and make-up of participant pools. We conclude with suggestions for future research.

Charismatic presidents like John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and now Barack Obama have been able to overcome stereotype-based barriers to political power by connecting emotionally with viewers, particularly through their nonverbal skills. In this study we focus on the facial displays of emotion by President Obama and how participants interpret them. This study builds upon the pioneering research of the Dartmouth Group concerning response to displays of happiness-reassurance by political leaders. It will first replicate and extend upon existing research by using Ekman and Friesen's Facial Action Coding System (FACS) to characterize facial displays by President Obama, specifically three neutral displays and three different types of smiles. Second, this study replicates research carried out over two decades ago concerning individual differences in sex, ethnicity, and age cohort on response to political candidates culturally defined as Black. Video focusing on the head and torso were FACS coded and presented in a web-based experiment to 79 participants working at a southern institution of higher education. The participants identified the emotions felt by President Obama on a scale ranging from "not at all" to "extremely" focusing on the basic emotion terms of: "Happy" and "Playful" (happiness-reassurance) and " Angry" and "Disgusted" (anger-threat). Findings suggest participants differentiate between subtle facial-display differences and that there are differences based upon ethnicity and support for President Obama when they interpret his facial displays of emotion.