Derek Laffan Msc, IADT, Psychology Matters Day. The Eurovision Song Contest is the biggest song contest in the world. Ireland, as a country, has the most wins compared to any other participating country, but in recent years has failed to qualify for the final. This presentation aims to identify and evaluate how psychological factors influence voting behaviour and refers to psychological theory when discussing how Ireland's future performances could be improved.

1. The Not So Loving Relationship Between Irish
Psychology and The Eurovision Song Contest
Derek Laffan MSc. (@dereklaffan)
#PsychMatters

3. We are the best at it… But we don’t
care about it.

4. Viewership of approximately 180 million people each year.
In 2008 and 2011, a record number of 43 countries participated.
Launched and enhanced the careers of many famous artists including ABBA,
Celine Dion, Johnny Logan and Bucks Fizz.
Ireland have 7 wins - making it the most successful country to ever take part.
Ireland won the Eurovision three times in a row in ’92, ’93 and ‘94 – then again
in ‘96.
Ireland have not won, nor made it into the top 5, ever since 1997.

5. Ireland and Eurovision
The Recent Years

7. In 2008, 43 countries participated. More countries than ever before.
Format change. Introduction of two semi finals.
Debut of Azerbaijan and San Marino.
In 2004 (Turkey), a semi final event was introduced.

8. 2008 - Present
Year Qualify to Finals Place in Finals Act
2008 No N/A Dustin “Irlande Nil
Pointe”
2009 No N/A Sinead Mulvey and
Black Daisy “Et
Cetera”.
2010 Yes 23rd (third last) Niamh Kavanagh
“It’s For You”.
2011 Yes 8th Jedward “Lipstick”.
2012 No N/A Jedward “Waterline”.
2013 Yes 25th (last) Ryan Dolan “Only
Love Survives”.
2014 No N/A Can-Lin Feat. Kasey
Smith “Heartbeats”.

9. 2008 - Present
Year Qualify to Finals Place in Finals Act
2015 No N/A Molly Sterling
“Playing With
Numbers”
2016 No N/A Nicky Byrne
“Sunlight”.
2017 No N/A Brendan Murray
“Dying To Try”.
2018 - - Ryan O’
Shaughnessy
“Together”.

10. Factors Influencing Voting Behaviour
The ESC (2008) quoted Dustin: “there is direct link between the downturn of
the Irish economy and Ireland’s poor performances in the Eurovision in recent
years” on the Eurovision website.
Economic Factors
Geographic Factors
“Those countries just vote for
each other”
Clerides & Stengos (2012)
Historical Factors
“Sure they were all former
Yugoslavia”
Cultural Factors
“All those countries are into
that kinda thing”

11. Aftermath of Feb 2014 Ukrainian
Revolution, Russian Intervention
in Ukraine and Crimea Incident.
Crowd Booing during the
Russian performance and an
“LGBT” (Conchita Wurst) win at
Eurovision 2014
Political Factors
(Andersson & Niedomysl, 2010)

12. Media Factors

13. Media Factors

14. Psychology and Eurovision Performance
• Economic, geographic, historical, cultural, media and political factors may be too stable
and difficult to manipulate in the context of a performer
There are some things that Eurovision acts just cannot control. No matter how “good”
they are!
But there are things that CAN be in the control of the performers.
It is possible that psychological technique may be most effectively applied to the
performance factors of Eurovision performances.

15. Psychological Factors affecting percieved judgement and
voting behaviour in Eurovision performances
Assimilation
Contrast
The Mere Exposure Effect
Running Order Bias

16. Assimilation
Assimilation = Making a judgement when comparing perceived similar elements among two stimuli
E.g. similar performance elements among acts (LGBG theme, ballads, catchy tune etc.)
Serbia Montenegro
Former Yugoslavia
(Mussweiler, 2003)

17. Contrast
Contrast = Making a judgment between perceived explicit differences among two stimuli
E.g. contrasting song performances.
Russia “Everybody Dance” Finland “Hard Rock Hallelujah”
(Mussweiler, 2003)

18. Mere Exposure Effect
Abakoumkin (2011) analysed the results of the Eurovision since the semi final introduction up to 2011:
• Countries that participated in a semi final event tended to achieve higher marks in the grand final
than the big 5 countries
• It was concluded that the familiarity of the acts showcased in a semi final event contributed to the
victory of recent Eurovision acts
• Zajonc (1968) said that the mere exposure effect, or the familiarity principle, tends to occur when
individuals develop a preference for a stimulus because of increased exposure or familiarity with
that stimulus.
• Verrier (2012) said that countries that do not participate in the semi final event have less chance at winning
compared to countries that do.

21. Running Order Bias
• When, and at what stage in the ESC, the performance occurs.
• Especially relevant in the Grand Final event itself.
• Serial Posititioning Effect.
• This may be tested by the Atkinson-Shiffrin (1968) Multistore Model of Memory.
• Bruine de Bruin (2005) stated that a later appearance in the Eurovision is associated with a higher
final score.
• This phenomenon has been termed “Recency”.
• Verrier (2012) stated that the recency memory effect may further strengthen the influence of mere
exposure.
• Spence (2013) stated that the running order of the acts may serve as a significany influential factor in voting behaviour
compared to other psychological phenomena.

22. Running Order Bias

23. Running Order Bias

25. 1974

26. 1988

27. How Psychology May Improve Ireland’s Future
Performances
• Staying as a semi finalist is ideal. In order to increase familiarity more favourably among voters,
Ireland should remain as a semi finalist
• Preferably the 2nd semi final event.
• The performance itself should be identifiable with a political or cultural trend in Europe, rather
than solely rely on the song to connect with voters.

28. How Psychology May Improve Ireland’s Future
Performances
• Staying as a semi finalist is ideal. In order to increase familiarity more favourably among voters,
Ireland should remain as a semi finalist
• Preferably the 2nd semi final event.
• The performance itself should be identifiable with a political or cultural trend in Europe, rather
than solely rely on the song to connect with voters.
• If not, the performance should be at least memorable because of the performance itself
• E.g. Mika Newton and the sand artist for Ukraine 2011. Came 4th.

29. Ukraine 4th Place 2011

30. Poland “We are Slavs” 14th Place 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ920cN2HmA

31. How Psychology May Improve Ireland’s Future
Performances
• Staying as a semi finalist is ideal. In order to increase familiarity more favourably among voters, Ireland
should remain as a semi finalist.
• Preferably the 2snd semi final event.
• The performance itself should be identifiable with a political or cultural trend in Europe, rather than
solely rely on the song to connect with voters.
• If not, the performance should be at least memorable because of the performance itself
• E.g. Mika Newton and the sand artist for Ukraine 2011. Came 4th.
• If our performance reaches the final event, Ireland wants the strategic position of middle or towards
the end, to reinforce the recency effect and mere exposure effect.
• Going with current trends, Ireland’s 2018 entry may be more successful as an overall performance
rather than just a song.

32. Why does it all matter?
… Said the Bearded man in a dress!

33. Thank you!