Impressions of politicians: The effect of situation and communication channel

Videotaped segments involving seven prominent Australian politicans were shown to students in one of three different conditions: video only, audio only, or combined audio and video. A further group of students read transcripts. The six segments for each politician represented three situations (speech, press‐conference and interview). Subjects rated their impressions of the politicians as speakers. Factor analysis indicated two dimensions of “dynamism” and “favourability”; the adjective “politically able” was analysed separately. Both politician and situation influenced ratings of dynamism, while, for both favourability and political ability, effects were related mainly to politician. Subjects working from the transcript rated politicians differently from those rating from tapes. Voting preference affected ratings of favourability and political ability, but not ratings of dynamism. The results point to effects for both the politicians' reputation and for context and non‐verbal behaviour. 1988 Australian Psychological Society