Tinder instead of a voting guide?

Wednesday 21 March 2018, 11:44 by Wijnand Geuze | 4,261 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When the campaign posters are up and the party positions have been typed out, it is time to vote. But deciding who gets your precious vote can still be quite difficult. Fortunately, there is a voting guide for those who are unsure.

You can also critically browse through party positions or ask your politically responsible best friend for advice, the one who does watch the news every day... But what is the actual effect of that faithful little face of a party leader on the election?

In this blog, I will take you through a number of experiments that examined the influence of portrait photos in elections. This influence turns out to be much greater than many of us think.

Election results can be predicted accurately within a few seconds using campaign photos. Make-up and the way someone dresses can greatly increase, or decrease, their level of competence.

Even Tinder does not seem to differ much from the usual course of events in elections. In our idealism, we sometimes tend to underestimate it, but looks matter, whether we like it or not. Academic research provides evidence that should not be ignored.

A quarter of a second is enough

In an experiment at Princeton University, psychologists Alexander Todorov and Charles C. Ballew II examined the influence of portrait photos of election candidates on election results.

Participants were shown portrait photos used in American elections for a quarter of a second.

The researchers asked participants to rate the candidates on their level of competence. The results were then compared with the final election result. The conclusion?

In 70 per cent of cases, the candidates rated as more competent won the election. Remarkably, a quarter of a second was enough to predict this very accurately (Mlodinow, 2012).

Isn't it interesting that weeks are spent on a process that can be assessed within a few seconds?

Tinder for councillors

On Tinder, you are swiped right because of a good-looking face and end up in the bin when your profile photo is less appealing. So how can you, as a councillor, make people swipe your party to the right?

Competence as the main pillar

For an election photo, competence is the most important factor. Of course, it is good if a party leader is friendly and has a certain degree of leadership, but above all, they need to be good at what they do, competent, in other words.

Professor Rosenberg conducted an experiment that not only underlines the principle above, but also highlights the importance of a good photo.

210 volunteers were asked to look at portrait photos and then indicate whether they thought the candidate in the photo was capable. They were also given some other pieces of information alongside the photo.

The researchers soon concluded that, compared with the written information, the photo had a much greater influence on voting than other factors.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said during his presidency: 'In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.'

Having a good election photo taken is a strategic move in this 'planning'. A logical question raised by Rosenberg's research was how the assessment of such a photo could be influenced.

To investigate this further, the researchers started a second experiment. They had make-up artists apply make-up to the same candidates in two ways: a 'flattering' way and a 'less flattering' way.

A new group of volunteers were shown the photos for assessment. Half of the group saw the attractive photos and the other half saw the less attractive ones. All the other information provided remained the same.

The result of the research was significant. The attractive campaign photos received 56 per cent of the votes, while the less flattering photos received only 44 per cent. An unfavourable photo therefore caused a 12 per cent drop (Wittman, 1995).

What does this mean for the election?

Rosenberg's research suggests that more than a tenth of election results could be influenced by photos.

Todorov and Ballew II add to this estimate with the conclusion that you can predict election results with 70 per cent accuracy based on a photo.

The claim that campaign photos influence 70 per cent of the results may be taking things too far, but we can certainly assume that these photos have a significant influence.

A portrait can make or break a politician, and that in less than half a second if we go by the research. The influence is huge.

If you are someone who likes to ponder, as I am, you could even philosophise about whether a good photographer influences the eventual government of our country... Could they?

My advice?

To finish, I have two tips for you.
One for the voter and one for the politician:

Tip 1 (for the voter)
Look beyond the apple cheeks, strong jawline or heavy eyebrows in an election photo. There is more to it than that.

Tip 2 (for the politician)
Have a good photo taken, because the fact remains: many voters find tip 1 rather difficult!

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