Left wings to the left: Posing and perceived political orientation

Once More, with Feeling! Digital Campaigns and Emotional Candidacies in X in Andalusia and Castilla y León

“…Despite the findings of Borbáth and Gessler (2023), who note that the rhetoric of populist far-right parties has changed as they seek to expand their electoral base, in this case we find that this hypothesis is proven, since it is in Andalusia where negative content is most used by VOX, in line with the findings of Novelli and Johansson (2019). However, regarding the satirical or humorous attack, we see that this issue is typical of far-left parties, in accordance with what has already been commented upon and analyzed by Duerksen and Elias (2018). In this way, we could consider the third part of the hypothesis partially true, highlighting the fact that the first half is only fulfilled in Andalusia and not in Castilla y León.…”

“…Secondly, we tried to verify the content of the campaign of the radical-left to find out if its emotional content is more extensive than the rational one; in addition, we expected to find positive emotions to a greater extent, in line with those established by Duerksen and Elias (2018). In this sense, as mentioned, the positive emotional content is in fact the most widely used, regardless of the extremity of the ideological spectrum in which they are located.…”

“…In the case of VOX, we also find differences based on the Autonomous Community, to the extent that they represent the most formal and serious leaders in Andalusia-in line with what was revealed by Bast (2021)-while the representation of these in Castilla y León is closer and more casual. For its part, the representation of the leaders of the extreme-left in Andalusia conforms to the criteria of Duerksen and Elias (2018), with them being more casual and closer; it does not do so in Castilla y León, where the UP candidate appeared dressed in a more formal way and with a more serious facial expression. However, it can be said that the fourth hypothesis is only fully met in the case of the extremist organisations in Andalusia.…”

“…In this sense, some authors have noted that the image that populist far-right parties try to convey on social networks has for some time been linked to the projection of professionalism (Bast 2021); in addition, other authors (Duerksen and Elias 2018) have noted that populist left-wing leaders tend to present themselves as closer, more expressive and more emotional than the rest.…”

Keep a Left Profile, Baby! The Left-Cradling Bias Is Associated with a Preference for Left-Facing Profiles of Human Babies

“…Indeed, in line with past research [63,64], the majority of participants judged the profile at the top of the stimulus sheet as more attractive than the profile at the bottom. Although previous studies related the preference for left-or right-facing profiles to different variables such as cultural and demographic factors [69,72,78,79], reading/writing habits [80], handedness and other motor biases [69,80,81] (see also [82]), poser's sex [73,77], emotional expression [54,72,83] and trustworthiness [84], perceived person-related traits [74] and political orientation [85], and selfie-taking styles (i.e., with the camera pointing toward the selfie-taker vs. toward their reflection in a mirror [66,71]), no study has ever examined its possible relationship with cradling-side preferences. However, to be honest, such a link (at least in terms of the cradled individual's point of view) had already been proposed-although on a purely speculative basis-by McManus and Humphrey [73] and Conesa et al [68,86], who hypothesized that the preference for left-facing profiles might arise from the LCB during a critical period for the development of vision (i.e., the first four months of life), given that when infants are held on the left arm of mothers, they are exposed to the left profile of the mother's face.…”