In my previous post I made an off-hand comment about McCain's disconcerting habit of blinking rapidly and shooting dart-like gazes everywhere. Turns out there is an entire field of study on blinking and its relationship to how the mind works, called "psychophysiological studies of eyeblink frequency". Who knew? One study by Boston College compared eyeblink (is there any other kind?) frequency of presidential candidates and the eventual electoral outcome (h/t to Ambinder). Basically, the rapid blinker during debates got fewer votes in each of the last 8 presidential elections.
Also interesting is the discussion of a two-factor theoretical model: blinking frequency increases when attention is divided and also during negative hedonic arousal states. Furthermore, the author proposes that since rapid blinking is associated with stress, it might act as a social cue, thus turning off viewers.
It's always nice to get scientific backing for one's hunches! I guess the moral of this story is "blink not, want not".
5 hours ago
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2 comments:
What does the research literature say on candidates who wink?
That's funny...I suppose it depends on whether the winking is voluntary or not. If involuntary, it might indicate the height of divided attention, when even simple blinking is overwhelmed and each eye must compensate by taking on some of the mental load. If voluntary, however, it might be a conscious attempt at sending a social cue, that the viewer can "trust me." Based on your comment, it appears that the candidate you have in mind may not have sent the social cue that (s)he intended.
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