The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior to Political Stature: The Political Interviews of Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

Abstract

The study presents an innovative model for examining both the relationship between the verbal and nonverbal behavior of a political figure in political interviews and the effects of his/her political stature on his/her performance. The uniqueness of the model lies in the simultaneous examination of the two channels of communication, the verbal and nonverbal and the definition of their relationship, e.g., discrepancy when there is a contradiction and inconsistency between the channels, and non-discrepancy when they are consistent and do not contradict each other. The model characterizes patterns of discrepancy and non-discrepancy both in the behavior of the interviewer and in that of the interviewee and relates them to the political standing of the interviewee. The study examined the behavior of Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon in television appearances over the past 20 years, in which he had both periods of strong political standing as well as periods of low political status. Findings significantly show that patterns of discrepancy and non-discrepancy between the verbal and the nonverbal messages are indicative of the political stature of the political person being interviewed. The findings have interesting methodological and theoretical implications.