Week 4: On Frustration and Pricey Articles

After using citations on Google Scholar this week, I was able to find an article that was related to appearance in politics (which I mistakenly thought would have some relation to body language). The article was titled Political Impression Management: How Metaphors, Sound Bites, Appearance, Effectiveness, and Personality Trait Can Win Elections and emphasized the idea that politicians turn to marketing tools to in order to win elections: that, like businessmen, campaign managers must design a “product” that best appeals to the voters. It also explained how the appearance of candidates can be altered to contribute to the voters perception of him/her (in a more desirable way). The article described a study that found different elements that contribute to favorable political images. For men, some include a high forehead, a classic dark suits, and dark/gray combed hair while for women, some included short/medium length hair, a formal dress (blouse/jacket), and dark/gray hair. The article concluded by underlining the significance that the “image” of politicians plays in today's political climate as people no longer have the patience and attention span to read complex, lengthy articles.

Although interesting, this article did not provide me with the research that I was looking for (as I would have liked something more related to body language). After conducting yet more research, I stumbled upon two articles that were of great pertinence to my project. One was called Gesture in Political Communication: A Case Study of the Democratic Presidential Candidates During the 2004 Primary Campaign while the other was called Barack Obama, being sharp: Indexical order in the pragmatics of precision-grip gesture. Much to my chagrin, I did not have access to these articles as they either required me to pay $35 or log-in. After speaking to my advisor, I learned that some University libraries have computers with access to sites with numerous articles, so I plan on visiting the San Jose State University Library in hopes of getting lucky and being able to read these articles. Finally, this week, I am going to sit with my advisor to form some sort of criteria and begin watching some debates!