TY - GEN
T1 - Counterfactual communication in politics
T2 - International Workshop on Political Speech 2010
AU - Catellani, Patrizia
AU - Bertolotti, Mauro
AU - Covelli, Venusia
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - During debates and interviews, political leaders often have to defend themselves from adversaries and journalists questioning their performance. To fight against these threats, politicians resort to various defensive strategies, either direct or indirect, to draw attention away from their responsibilities or shed a more positive light upon their work. Counterfactual defences (i.e., comparing past actual events with other hypothetical events) may be included among indirect defensive strategies. We first analyzed counterfactuals evoked by politicians during pre-electoral televised broadcasts. Results showed that politicians defended themselves by using: a) other-focused upward counterfactuals; b) self-focused downward counterfactuals. We then analyzed the effects of defensive counterfactuals on recipients. Participants were presented with different versions of a fictitious political interview, varying for the use of factual versus counterfactual defences and for counterfactual target and direction. Results showed that counterfactual communication is an effective defensive strategy in political debates.
AB - During debates and interviews, political leaders often have to defend themselves from adversaries and journalists questioning their performance. To fight against these threats, politicians resort to various defensive strategies, either direct or indirect, to draw attention away from their responsibilities or shed a more positive light upon their work. Counterfactual defences (i.e., comparing past actual events with other hypothetical events) may be included among indirect defensive strategies. We first analyzed counterfactuals evoked by politicians during pre-electoral televised broadcasts. Results showed that politicians defended themselves by using: a) other-focused upward counterfactuals; b) self-focused downward counterfactuals. We then analyzed the effects of defensive counterfactuals on recipients. Participants were presented with different versions of a fictitious political interview, varying for the use of factual versus counterfactual defences and for counterfactual target and direction. Results showed that counterfactual communication is an effective defensive strategy in political debates.
KW - Counterfactual thinking
KW - Defence
KW - Political communication
KW - Political debate
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84893937333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84893937333&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-642-41545-6_7
DO - 10.1007/978-3-642-41545-6_7
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84893937333
SN - 9783642415449
VL - 7688 LNAI
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 75
EP - 85
BT - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
PB - Springer Verlag
Y2 - 10 November 2010 through 12 November 2010
ER -