CTAC 2024 Valencia - Henrik Hanke - Reduce to the max - slideshare.pdf
Emotional Expression in Political Communication
1. CRICOS No.00213J
Affective polarisation in the
communication of political leaders
in Brazil and Denmark
Sebastian Svegaard, Tariq Choucair, Axel Bruns
sebastian.svegaard I tariq.choucair I a.bruns I @qut.edu.au
2. CRICOS No.00213J
QUT acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara, as the First Nations
owners of the lands where QUT now stands. We pay respect to
their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. We recognise
that these lands have always been places of teaching, research
and learning.
QUT acknowledges the important role Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people play within the QUT community.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL OWNERS
3. CRICOS No.00213J
Our cast of characters
Brazil October 2022
Bolsonaro Lula
Denmark November 2022
Ellemannn-Jensen Frederiksen
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
4. CRICOS No.00213J
Collecting
• Cases chosen to cover different situations:
• Electoral & parliamentary systems
• Global North & South
• Cultures and team expertise
• Collections:
• Facebook using Crowdtangle and the
CrowdTool by Jane XueYing Tan
• Selection:
• Top 30 engagement posts pr candidate
• Coding:
• Nvivo using 34 emotions commonly
used in Social Psychology (Cowen &
Keltner, 2007)
• & 2 codes for affective polarisation
• Pictures and video (up to 5 min)
included
• Numbers pulled into Excel and visualised
using Tableau
Methods
Coding
Choosing
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
5. CRICOS No.00213J
Range of (many) emotions
Candidates’ portrayed emotions
Candidates’emotions in affective polarisation wrt. external actors (other nations)
Candidates’ emotions in affective polarisation wrt. internal actors (opposition, national)
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
8. CRICOS No.00213J
Example: Lula
Joy, non-polarising
“Our last act of the campaign on Avenida Paulista.
We are millions in the street. We are the Brazilian
people. And with much love, against hate,
tomorrow we vote 13.”
(Total of 15 images in this post, showcasing the crowd
and Lula in it.)
Codes: Joy, excitement, satisfaction
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
9. CRICOS No.00213J
Example: Ellemann
Joy, non-polarising
“Now it begins! Great to be in Aarhus to get the election
posters up with Venstre Youth and a bunch of eager
volunteers. Wishing everyone a great election!”
(Total of 5 images in this post, all with posters, similar
smiles, and some with volunteers/general public.)
Codes: Joy, excitement, interest, pride
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
11. CRICOS No.00213J
Example: Bolsonaro
Contempt, internal polarisation
“In 2018, before we won the elections, the people already
knew some of those who would be in my government. They
knew what the profile of my ministers would be and that they
would all be chosen independently. This is essential to work for
Brazil and not for dark interests
- The organized crime candidate, on the other hand, cannot
announce anyone because he has already given everything to
political groups and parties in exchange for support. That's why
he is the system's candidate, because whoever is a hostage can
be blackmailed. Or does anyone think he was released from
prison for charity?
- What he calls the front for democracy is, in fact, the return of
false harmony, the one in which the "companheiros" steal in
peace while you pay the bill. There is no commitment to the
people when you are already committed to other interests.
This is how systemic corruption is born! "
Codes: contempt, disgust, pride,
them/us
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
12. CRICOS No.00213J
Example: Frederiksen
Contempt, internal polarisation
“I rarely use this profile to comment on other parties’
politics. But this is one step too far. New Right [far right
populist party] apparently believe that it should be
possible to deselect aged care workers because of their
homosexuality or because they’re Jewish. It is a
proposal that is destructive for any society. Including the
Danish. Cohesion is destroyed. It is the entirely wrong
path to go down. Last week there was a debate on
whether it should be possible to deselect an aged care
worker if they are wearing a headscarf. Denmark must
not be divided along any lines. Employees must be
evaluated on their qualifications and nothing else.“
Codes: anger, contempt, surprise,
them/us
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
13. CRICOS No.00213J
• The numbers differ
• Brazil “larger” emotions
• Denmark more subdued
• The range is similar
• Differences in emotional expression
appears personal
• Bolsonaro remains an outlier
Range of (fewer) emotions
Candidates’ portrayed emotions in affective polarisation towards internal actors (mainly opponents)
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
14. CRICOS No.00213J
• Frederiksen (6 posts):
• Chiefly about Russia and/or Putin
• Climate change appears
• Trump appears
• No internal polarisation
• Bolsonaro (2 posts):
• Points to Lula sympathising with
“socialist dictators”
• Talks about national sovereignty and
casting external forces as a danger
• Incl. internal polarisation
Range of (even fewer) emotions
Candidates’ portrayed emotions in affective polarisation towards external actors (other nations)
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
15. CRICOS No.00213J
In some kind of conclusion…
• As expected, styles of communication are different
• Cultural norms visible
• Styles of communication (ie. use of video) and authenticity (smiling) differ
• Negative vs positive emotions are not strong predictors of polarisation
• Emotions might be expressed differently, based on culture and personality
• However, similar emotions are used
• However, there are significant similarities
• Large range of emotions overall
• Fewer in polarising content
• Personal styles come through within cultural differences and might be as or more significant
• Gender differences not significant in this particular (small) sample compared with above
Svegaard, Choucair & Bruns I 2023
Editor's Notes
Bolsonaro: incumbent, right wing populism & Lula: challenger, labor
Ellemann-Jensen: challenger, liberal & Frederiksen: incumbent, labor
The candidates are presented with their Facebook profiles pictures at the time of the presentation to reflect the data collection on that platform.
A lot more could be said about methods here, of course. But we want to highlight the cultural coding as a deliberate choice to lean into expertise and cultural understanding. Coder interdependency not yet done, but will be on the Australian set as a ground where all have knowledge and language proficiency, before we do any kind of publishing. Therefore, this is also still somewhat early results and still in progress.
Video use is a significant cultural difference.
Just to give an overview of the range of emotions we saw in each of the situations – all emotions, those with affective polarisation constructing a them/us within national politics, and one constructing it with external actors.
Only few emotions were never used in codes, those being Awe, Awkwardness, Boredom, Envy and Sexual desire.
Fewer emotions as we move into the affective polarisation examples, which are a subset.
All candidates focused on internal actors in an election.
Looking at the top, all candidates use a wide range with individual differences. Looking at a few examples, we see this.
Within the internal affective polarisation, you see that the most active use of emotions are with Bolsonaro, who has a style of using especially negative emotions – though he shares the most popular ones with other candidates. And then contrast.
On the left, most utilised emotions overall, right is those in internal affective polarisation.
Bolsonaro is a bit of an outlier, suggesting personal style is important.
On the left, everyone NOT Bolsonaro is relatively similar, though again, personal differences. The similarities in ¾ between Lula and Ellemann again suggests there’s something about personality rather than culture that comes through here.
On the right, again, our outlier, and there we might see a cultural difference come through clearer. Higher levels for the Brazilians, lower for the Danes, and a lack of disgust in the Danish politicians’ use of emotions.
Looking at this a little differently, some examples:
Joy operationalised by the two primary users of this emotion
Translation:
“Our last act of the campaign on Avenida Paulista. We millions in the street. We are the Brazilian people. And with much love, against hate, tomorrow we vote 13.”
Original:
“Nosso último ato da campanha na Avenida Paulista. Somos milhões nas ruas. Somos o povo brasileiro. E com muito amor, contra o ódio, amanhã votaremos 13. 📸: Ricardo Stuckert #BrasilDaEsperança”
Avenida Paulista has been the scene of the main political manifestations in Brazil for some decades now. For example, many manifestations of the Diretas Já movement in the 1980s for the end of the Military Dictatorship took place there.
7:20
The number 13 is the number of Lula's party (Workers' Party - Partido dos Trabalhadores). It is one of the few numbers in the Brazilian electoral system that has remained the same since the founding of the Party, also during/at the end of the Military Dictatorship in the 1980s. Therefore, the number 13 is strongly associated with the left in Brazil.
Genuinely happy scenes, used to show community and togetherness.
Translation:
“Now it begins! Great to be in Aarhus to get the election posters up with Venstre Youth and a bunch of eager volunteers. Wishing everyone a great election!”
Original:
“Nu går det løs! Dejligt at være i Aarhus med Venstres Ungdom - VU og en masse friske frivillige for at hænge valgplakater op. God valgkamp til alle!”
The hanging of posters are an important event in Danish campaigning, with strict rules for when and where they can go up and must come down again. Also a nice smile there!
If we then look at a contrast between the use of contempt – here the other two leaders use it the most (though perhaps unfair as Bolsonaro uses it a lot and the Danes barely do)
Here follows two examples of candidates’ use of contempt as something they themselves are expressing.
The contrast between the image – neutral to positive, posing with a minister in his government – and a very strongly worded text is striking.
Translation:
“- In 2018, before we won the elections, the people already knew some of those who would be in my government. They knew what the profile of my ministers would be and that they would all be chosen independently. This is essential to work for Brazil and not for dark interests.
- The organized crime candidate, on the other hand, cannot announce anyone because he has already given everything to political groups and parties in exchange for support. That's why he is the system's candidate, because whoever is a hostage can be blackmailed. Or does anyone think he was released from prison for charity?
- What he calls the front for democracy is, in fact, the return of false harmony, the one in which the "companheiros" steal in peace while you pay the bill. There is no commitment to the people when you are already committed to other interests. This is how systemic corruption is born! “
Original:
“- Em 2018, antes de vencermos as eleições, o povo já conhecia parte daqueles que iriam compor o meu governo. Sabiam qual seria o perfil dos meus ministros e que todos seriam escolhidos com independência. Isso é fundamental para trabalhar pelo Brasil e não por interesses sombrios.
- Já o candidato do crime organizado não pode anunciar ninguém porque já entregou tudo na mão de grupos e partidos políticos em troca de apoio. É por isso que ele é o candidato do sistema, porque quem é refém pode ser chantageado. Ou alguém acha que ele foi solto por caridade?
- O que ele chama de frente pela democracia é, na verdade, a volta da falsa harmonia, aquela em que os companheiros roubam em paz enquanto você paga a conta. Não há compromisso com o povo quando já se está comprometido com outros interesses. Assim nasce a corrupção sistêmica!”
Here is a use of the same emotion by Denmark’s Frederiksen. Again a contrast to the image, though far less striking. There is a hint of a smile, but also a look that could be construed as disappointed. Both posts are long and are indicting an opposing politician (Frederiksen is not naming names, but any reading would be aware of who from New Right made that particular statement), and operationalises the same emotion.
Translation:
“I rarely use this profile to comment on other parties’ politics. But this is one step too far. New Right [far right populist party] apparently believe that it should be possible to deselect aged care workers because of their homosexuality or because they’re Jewish. It is a proposal that is destructive for any society. Including the Danish. Cohesion is destroyed. It is the entirely wrong path to go down. Last week there was a debate on whether it should be possible to deselect an aged care worker if they are wearing a headscarf. Denmark must not be divided along any lines. Employees must be evaluated on their qualifications and nothing else.“
Original:
“Det er sjældent, jeg bruger profilen her til at kommentere på andre partiers politik. Men det her er alligevel for meget. Nye Borgerlige mener tilsyneladende, at man skal kunne fravælge medarbejdere i ældreplejen - også på baggrund af homoseksualitet, eller fordi de er jøder. Det er et forslag, som er ødelæggende for ethvert samfund. Også det danske. Sammenhængskraften ryger. Det er den helt forkerte vej at gå. I sidste uge var det en diskussion om, at man skal kunne afvise en hjemmehjælper, hvis vedkommende bærer tørklæde. Danmark skal ikke splittes, og vi mennesker skal ikke opdeles efter hverken det ene eller det andet. Medarbejdere skal vurderes på deres kvalifikationer. Intet andet.”
Showing the personal styles here – can skip
Very little use of external forces, but a striking difference in how this external affective polarisation is operationalised.
Bolsonaro essentially uses it to talk about his opponent, while Frederiksen does not. Geopolitical reasons for this likely as much as personal styles and stakes. Frederiksen set to create a coalition w. her opponent, while Brazil’s system does not lend itself to that kind of construction.
We will continue to work with this data, so these are early conclusions. However, the main takeaway so far is the distinct personal styles being as or more pronounced than the cultural ones.
