Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Strategies For Responding To Background Nonverbal Disparagement In Televised Political Debates: Effects On Audience Perceptions Of Argument Skill And Appropriateness, Harry Weger Jr., John S. Seiter, Kimberly A. Jacobs, Valerie Akbulut
Strategies For Responding To Background Nonverbal Disparagement In Televised Political Debates: Effects On Audience Perceptions Of Argument Skill And Appropriateness, Harry Weger Jr., John S. Seiter, Kimberly A. Jacobs, Valerie Akbulut
Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies Faculty Publications
412 participants watched a purported televised political debate between candidates for mayor. In each of six versions, one debater engaged in strong nonverbal disagreement during his opponentÂ’s opening statement. The opponent then responded with one of six decreasingly polite attempts to stop the debater from engaging in the nonverbal behavior. Direct, but not personally attacking, responses resulted in higher levels of perceived argumentation effectiveness and appropriateness when compared to not responding to the nonverbal behavior.