Political colour: ruling party versus opposition party

The connection between gender and ideology has already been dealt with in the literature on political discourse. In this regard, Hidalgo Tenorio (2002:244) argues that:

In short, I wanted to see the influence of gender and ideology on the specific language usage of the politicians under scrutiny and, subsequently, to try to make some suggestions about the possible repertoire of linguistic features indicative of political success, if any.

According to Bente et al. (1998) and Burgoon et al. (1996), ‘… gaze aversion is more frequent when discussing difficult topics, when uncertain, or when ashamed’

(Bente et al., 1998:36). Thus, it is interesting to study differences in eye-contact while taking into account the MPs’ political colour. It does not require the same effort to interact with a politician of the same political party as with a politician in the opposition. A politician’s psychological stance changes when his/her in-teractant’s political colour also changes. Moreover, as Dodd et al. (2010:1) point out, ‘gaze direction can also influence affective evaluations of objects (Bayliss, Frischen, Fenske, and Tipper, 2007) and judgments of trustworthiness (Bayliss and Tipper, 2004).’

Regarding the use of eye-contact related to political colour, we obtained the results shown in Figure 5.

19.67

14.17

2.64

8.95

5.44 6.30

2.44 2.29

1.29

0.21

0.41 0.27

0 5 10 15 20 25

PSOE EC PP EC

EC secs/min

#EC<1sec/min

#EC=1sec/min

#EC=2–3secs/min

#EC=4–5secs/min

#EC>5secs/min

Figure 5. PP and PSOE MPs’ eye-contact

As shown in this figure, PSOE MPs maintain more eye-contact (19.67) than PP MPs (14.17). This suggests that eye-contact is used as a tool that signals affiliation and loyalty to the highest representative of the PSOE party in this Committee.

Additionally, longer eye-contacts (i.e. 4–5 seconds or more than 5 seconds) are much more common among PSOE MPs than PP MPs. Argyle and Dean (1965:

290–91) had already pointed out that ‘There is more gaze direction if A likes B, and if they are cooperating rather than competing. There is less eye-contact if there is tension in the relationship, …, or if A has recently deceived B.’ In the following extract, we can see an example of a 6-second eye-contact that Sr. Rodríguez Acuña (PSOE MP) holds while directing a question to the RM:

(10) … las necesidades informativas, bueno, pues ofrece información de las actividades o actuaciones que se puedan ofrecer desde la propia … 

(8-09/POC-000423, Sr. Rodríguez Acuña, September 2010) [… the information needs, well, it offers information about the activities or

actions that could be offered from the … itself …]

This is part of a question about the advantages of an information telephone line that the Junta de Andalucía has made available for young people. In this extract, Sr. Acuña is telling the RM that she is offering young people what they need, and he says this while looking at her directly. So, positive and laudatory language is ac-companied by prolonged eye-contact. As mentioned above, there is a strong cor-relation between long eye-contacts and expressions of affiliation and loyalty.

By contrast, PP MPs prefer to use regulators (i.e. glances or just one-second eye-contacts). In the following extract, we can see an example of a succession of 13 glances cast by Sra. Palacios Pérez (PP MP) while asking the RM a supplementary question:

(11) … que continúan siendo excluidas por un bajo nivel educativo, una precariedad laboral, una situación degradada de vivienda y una sensible menor calidad de vida. Por eso, cuando hablamos de discriminación étnica en España y en Andalucía, no sólo nos referimos a los pobres derivados de la inmigración, sino también a la comunidad gitana, de la cual un tanto por ciento muy elevado de los más de setecientos mil miembros residen en nuestra Comunidad, en Andalucía.

(8-10/POC-000418, Sra. Palacios Pérez, June 2010) [… who carry on being excluded due to low educational level, a precarious

work situation, impoverished housing and an appreciably lower quality of life. That is why, when we talk about ethnic discrimination in Spain and in Andalusia, we do not mean just poor people resulting from immigration but also the Romani community, seven hundred thousand-strong, a high percentage of which lives in our community, in Andalusia.]

In this question, Sra. Palacios Pérez is asking the RM about the effects of the cur-rent crisis on the Romani community. She uses a number of words and phrases which have very negative connotations such as ‘exclusion’, ‘low educational level’,

‘precarious labour situation’, ‘impoverished housing’, ‘lower quality of life’ and ‘eth-nic discrimination’. At the end of the list comes Andalusia, the region principally mired in these difficulties. While uttering this litany of disasters, Sra. Palacios does not look at the RM directly; instead, she resorts to a succession of darting glances.

PP MPs appear to use these regulators to show detachment and opposition.

It is striking that the opposite is the case when analysing the RM’s discourse.

12.38

Figure 6. Regional Minister’s eye-contact with PSOE and PP MPs

These results confirm that the RM keeps more eye-contact with the opposition (32.74) than with her colleagues (12.38). Surprisingly, she also uses many more regulators (i.e. glances) with members of the same political party (3.36) than with MPs in the opposition (0.96). Equally unexpectedly, she uses many more long-eye-contacts with the opposition (1.90) than with PSOE MPs (0.60). In this instance, eye-contact may have a persuasive function. The RM does not have to convince her colleagues of anything. In fact, the main reason for raising these questions is to provide the RM with the opportunity to promote her achievements and positive policies. However, when she answers the opposition’s questions, she has to be as convincing as possible because these questions tend not to be straightforward but rather tricky and loaded. Therefore, she must use all the weapons at her disposal, both verbal and non-verbal, with one of them being eye-contact. As prolonged eye-contacts are related to honesty and sincerity (Exline et al., 1970; Stass and Willis, 1967), they are an effective tactic to counter questions of this sort.

In the following extract, we can see an example of a succession of 13 glances cast by the RM while answering a question raised by Sra. Quevedo Ariza (PSOE MP):

(12) … ejemplo de colaboración entre administraciones con el fin de garantizar a estas familias andaluzas la posibilidad de disfrutar de unos días de ocio en un ámbito diferente al de su convivencia diaria. Como valor añadido ofrece prestaciones específicas para estas familias, como son las actividades complementarias para las madres, pero también para sus hijos e hijas. Año tras año se realiza una convocatoria pública, y en la actualidad la selección de las participantes se efectúa mediante la aplicación de un baremo en el que se valoran diferentes aspectos, como el número de hijos que tienen a cargo, la cuantía de los ingresos, situaciones de especial necesidad o el haber sido víctima de violencia de género. Al igual que en otras convocatorias, se han beneficiado de esta, que es una estancia de siete días, en el mes de julio normalmente y en las costas andaluzas, 148 mujeres y 252 niños y niñas … (8-10/POC-000400, Sra. Quevedo, September 2010) [… example of collaboration among administrations with the aim of

guaranteeing to these Andalusian families the possibility of enjoying a few days’ time off in an environment different from the one in which they live daily. They have an added value because they offer specific benefits to these families, such as some complementary activities for the mothers, but also for their children. Year after year an official call for applications is published, and currently the selection of participants is made by means of the applying criteria in which different factors are evaluated, such as the number of children, income, special needs situations or if they have been victims of gender violence. Just as on previous occasions, 198 women and 252 boys and girls have benefited from a 7-day stay, normally in July …]

This is part of an answer to a question about the programme of Time-Away stays.

In this extract, the RM offers a long and well-rehearsed list of the advantages of this programme. She also mentions those who have benefited from this programme.

She does not have to convince Sra. Quevedo Ariza of anything she says but merely takes advantage of the opportunity that has been offered to her. Thus, the RM does not bother to look in her direction for any length of time; it is merely a cue to spell out what she had well prepared in advanced.

By contrast, in the following example, we can see a 16-second eye-contact that the RM maintains while answering a question raised by Sr. Armijo Higueras (PP MP):

(13) … sino intentar que estén lo más cerca posible de su pueblo. Pero, en el conjunto de la provincia de Jaén, en este momento, señoría, créame, no

faltan plazas. Hay plazas que se están pagando en este momento, que están concertadas, que no están ocupadas.

(8-08/POC-000145, Sr. Armijo Higueras, April 2010) [… but to ensure they are close as possible to their villages. But as a whole,

in Jaén province, at this moment, your honour, believe me, we are not short of vacancies. There are vacancies which are being paid for at this moment, which are provided, which are not occupied.]

The purpose of this question was to obtain information about the Dependence Law in Jaén. In her answer, the RM is categorical: ‘we are not short of vacancies’

and ‘there are vacancies which are not occupied’. Moreover, she even addresses the MP directly by means of an imperative: ‘your honour, believe me.’ In other words, she is doing her utmost to convince Sr. Armijo Higueras of her honesty and sincer-ity, and uses long eye-contact to this end.