Body movements in political discourse

This contribution provides a brief overview on politicians’ bodily communication. Gesture is considered fundamental in rhetoric communication since classical times. In contemporary technological age, politics bodily communication is still important, especially on TV and new media, where politicians can build a credible and persuasive image thanks to gestural-mimicry-postural devices too. All this is now even emphasized by first and extreme closeups: all new technologies, permitting the perception of small details of the politicians’ body, magnify the role and power played by the body in political communication. Studies tried to explain the role of body both in audience impressions’ formation about a political candidate and in related voting decisions. Some researches studied how physical appearance can be a predictor of electoral outcomes. Many studies showed how body movements and hand gestures can impact on the receivers’ evaluations of a politician’s competence and personality (and also her/his health state) and how these evaluations can influence their vote choices. The chapter stresses how the importance of the body within contemporary political communication is probably based on psychological processes which are mainly, if not exclusively, automatic and unaware, from the point of view of both the actors and especially the audiences.