The study “Contagious Smiles on Screen. The Role of Emotional Alignment of TV Presenters” by Emma Rodero from Pompeu Fabra University investigated the dynamic impact of smiling on audience responses. For this, 120 participants watched otherwise identical TV clips, one with the presenter smiling, and the other without.

Previous research has shown that nonverbal communication (NVC) plays a pivotal part in how audiences perceive TV presenters (Burgoon et al. 1990) – smiling being one of the most salient and socially meaningful expressions. 

The study was based on the Emotional Contagion Theory (Hatfield et al. 1994). It explains how others tend to mimic and internalize emotional expressions by others automatically. According to the researchers of the theory, this is critical in media communication.

There was a psychophysiological effect caused by smiling, demonstrated by higher arousal – the effect could also be shown in the differential arousal in the graph, with peaks marked by the moments when the presenters were smiling. The heart rate was increased by smiling. 

Emotional contagion was also demonstrated, as the participants smiled more when exposed to smiling presenters. For non-smiling presenters, a negative valence was seen. Smiling also increased the effectiveness of the message and message credibility. 

The effects differed between genders, with women rating smiling presenters higher and considered them more credible. When it came to electrodermal activity (EDA), there were no significant differences between the genders. Similarly, the effect on heart rate did not seem to depend on gender.

In conclusion, the author ponders why women self-reported a higher effect but it did not show in the more “objective” measures. Nevertheless, the results can be practically relevant for fields such as journalism, broadcasting, and political communication. The professionals in these fields benefit from training on non-verbal behavior to facilitate authentic smiling. 

The research advanced Emotional Contagion Theory within media psychology by demonstrating its relevance in screen-based. The article “Contagious Smiles on Screen. The Role of Emotional Alignment of TV Presenters” by Emma Rodero is in Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. (Free abstract.)

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