This is the speech or a very similar one to the one that I am performing as Blondie in our performance, when she is accepting being voted in as PM. It was useful watching how Cameron presented this speech because when playing Blondie I am representing members of parliment so it was useful to see how they act and what they view as important. Also it was useful because it was interesting to see the different ways that the character of Blondie and the PM Cameron present the same speech, as although he was slightly motivating, compared to Blondie, Cameron is alot more understated than her. This could be beacuse of her beauty and her sexuality that got her in, so consequently she will have to keep this up in the speeches and it also shows how, as well as in reality, the more charismatic and emotive speacher get into power and maybe that is one of the reasons that Cameron didn't win the vote on his own and had to form a collition because he wasn't seen as overly charismatic and emotiveful, unlike other leaders such as Obama.
Wednesday 28 November 2012
The Experiment:
Background
Throughout human history, a disproportionate degree of political power around the world has been held by men. Even in democracies where the opportunity to serve in top political positions is available to any individual elected by the majority of their constituents, most of the highest political offices are occupied by male leaders. What psychological factors underlie this political gender gap? Contrary to the notion that people use deliberate, rational strategies when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections, research indicates that people use shallow decision heuristics, such as impressions of competence solely from a candidate's facial appearance, when deciding whom to vote for. Because gender has previously been shown to affect a number of inferences made from the face, here we investigated the hypothesis that gender of both voter and candidate affects the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior.
Methodology/Principal Finding
Male and female voters judged a series of male and female political candidates on how competent, dominant, attractive and approachable they seemed based on their facial appearance. Then they saw a series of pairs of political candidates and decided which politician they would vote for in a hypothetical election for President of the United States. Results indicate that both gender of voter and candidate affect the kinds of facial impressions that predict voting behavior. All voters are likely to vote for candidates who appear more competent. However, male candidates that appear more approachable and female candidates who appear more attractive are more likely to win votes. In particular, men are more likely to vote for attractive female candidates whereas women are more likely to vote for approachable male candidates.
Conclusions/Significance
Here we reveal gender biases in the intuitive heuristics that voters use when deciding whom to vote for in major political elections. Our findings underscore the impact of gender and physical appearance on shaping voter decision-making and provide novel insight into the psychological foundations underlying the political gender gap.
Beauty in Politics research, An experiment:
Politics as beauty contest
Perhaps interest in politics has dropped off a lot now that the U. S. elections are over (for this year). But there's still some interesting political science that came up before the big event.
Even though political scientists, year in and year out, are as busy publishing as any other kind, quite a number of research announcements were noted recently outside of traditional professional venues. That has tapered off now, but there were a number of items that seem to call for some comment here. So I'll do some of that despite what is bound to be a declining interest in the subject.
A perennial favorite of election-oriented political research centers around questions of how the appearance of a candidate affects electoral success. That's no different this year. Here's a fairly typical example:
A Pretty Face Can Make A Difference In Whom You Vote For (10/30/08)
The idea that good looks positively affects electoral success has been researched many times – as well as being often suspected by a lot of people who aren't professional – in all kinds of elections from student councils on up.
The new research I want to examine here was not entirely, or even primarily, about the importance of attractiveness in winning elections. Instead, experimental participants were first asked to rate candidates independently, based on their photos, on four different attributes: "competence", "dominance", and "approachability", as well as "attractiveness".
The politicians in question were actually candidates in 2006 U. S. Congressional elections. The politicians' photos were then presented in pairs actually competing with each other. Experiment participants were asked to chose which of each pair they would vote for if the office were actually the U. S. presidency.
The resulting data were analyzed in various ways. First, in comparison of participants' voting choice to how they had rated the candidates on each of the four attributes. Second, in comparison of candidates' gender and facial appearance to actual Congressional election outcomes. And third, in comparison between how the candidates won or lost in the simulated presidential election and in the actual Congressional election.
Since I want to focus just on the attractiveness issue, I won't attempt to summarize all the results here. You can find the summary in the research paper itself (citation below). I'll mention only two specific observations: (1) "Female candidates were more likely to win votes if they were more attractive." (2) "Male voters were significantly more likely to vote for candidates that appeared attractive." (I presume these statements represent correlations between opinions of attractiveness and voting behavior of each experimental participant.)
Now, it may be true as the research asserts, that attractiveness matters more for female candidates, while a perceptions of "competence" is relatively more important for male candidates. However, the attractiveness of male candidates (especially in contests exclusively between two males) is a still a net positive.
There's another possibility that should be considered even when voters seem to make their voting choices based on judgment of "competence" of male (or female, for that matter) candidates. Namely, that "attractiveness" (perhaps in a form not consciously associated with the term) might bias this judgment. One has to wonder exactly what visual characteristics might signify "competence" to voters, and whether certain factors – such as a "strong jawbone" (for a male) – don't contribute simultaneously to judgments of both attractiveness and competence.
Even though political scientists, year in and year out, are as busy publishing as any other kind, quite a number of research announcements were noted recently outside of traditional professional venues. That has tapered off now, but there were a number of items that seem to call for some comment here. So I'll do some of that despite what is bound to be a declining interest in the subject.
A perennial favorite of election-oriented political research centers around questions of how the appearance of a candidate affects electoral success. That's no different this year. Here's a fairly typical example:
A Pretty Face Can Make A Difference In Whom You Vote For (10/30/08)
According to new Northwestern University research, it is not at all surprising that everyone also is talking about the great looks of vice presidential hopeful Palin.
Whether or not you believe the McCain campaign's $150,000 expenditure for Palin's wardrobe and the much-talked-about salary of her makeup artist are over the top, the decision to play up the looks of the former beauty queen is a winning strategy.
Even in 2008, a perception of competence -- a strong predictor of whether people will vote for political candidates -- is not enough to give women the winning edge in political contests, according to the new Northwestern psychology study.
For both men and women, female political candidates needed to be seen as attractive as well as competent to get their votes. ...
While gender bias related to a female candidate's attractiveness was consistent across both male and female voters, good looks was almost all that mattered in predicting men's votes for female candidates. And, true to prevailing stereotypes, competence was almost all that mattered in predicting men's votes for male candidates.
The idea that good looks positively affects electoral success has been researched many times – as well as being often suspected by a lot of people who aren't professional – in all kinds of elections from student councils on up.
The new research I want to examine here was not entirely, or even primarily, about the importance of attractiveness in winning elections. Instead, experimental participants were first asked to rate candidates independently, based on their photos, on four different attributes: "competence", "dominance", and "approachability", as well as "attractiveness".
The politicians in question were actually candidates in 2006 U. S. Congressional elections. The politicians' photos were then presented in pairs actually competing with each other. Experiment participants were asked to chose which of each pair they would vote for if the office were actually the U. S. presidency.
The resulting data were analyzed in various ways. First, in comparison of participants' voting choice to how they had rated the candidates on each of the four attributes. Second, in comparison of candidates' gender and facial appearance to actual Congressional election outcomes. And third, in comparison between how the candidates won or lost in the simulated presidential election and in the actual Congressional election.
Since I want to focus just on the attractiveness issue, I won't attempt to summarize all the results here. You can find the summary in the research paper itself (citation below). I'll mention only two specific observations: (1) "Female candidates were more likely to win votes if they were more attractive." (2) "Male voters were significantly more likely to vote for candidates that appeared attractive." (I presume these statements represent correlations between opinions of attractiveness and voting behavior of each experimental participant.)
Now, it may be true as the research asserts, that attractiveness matters more for female candidates, while a perceptions of "competence" is relatively more important for male candidates. However, the attractiveness of male candidates (especially in contests exclusively between two males) is a still a net positive.
There's another possibility that should be considered even when voters seem to make their voting choices based on judgment of "competence" of male (or female, for that matter) candidates. Namely, that "attractiveness" (perhaps in a form not consciously associated with the term) might bias this judgment. One has to wonder exactly what visual characteristics might signify "competence" to voters, and whether certain factors – such as a "strong jawbone" (for a male) – don't contribute simultaneously to judgments of both attractiveness and competence.
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