The Effects of Tearful Presidential Appeals on Public Anger Relief and Government Reputation

Abstract

This study examines the ways in which nonverbal communication appeals by heads of state during serious situations of national crisis affect the public’s anger levels and appraisal of the government organization. The experiment used a 2 × 2 design with two forms of crisis (those associated with high and low levels of government responsibility) and two forms of appeal or apology, namely “tearful” and “ordinary.” Anger levels were found to be significantly lower following a political leader’s apology in both tearful and ordinary forms following a crisis for which the government responsibility was perceived as high. In cases of crises for which government responsibility was seen as low, anger levels did decrease, though not significantly. Comparison of the effects of tearful and ordinary appeals showed the former to have a stronger anger relief effect than the latter in both high and low responsibility conditions, although not to a statistically significant degree. No particular difference was observed between the two appeal times in terms of government reputation. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.