Investigating Facial Expressions as Strategies of Persuasion in Political TV. Interviews

Facial expressions are the nonverbal cues that people use to communicate. They are crucial aspects of interlocutors' daily conversation and interaction. This paper is based on the ideas that many interlocutors utilize facial expressions as a persuasive tool in interactions with others to express emotions, thoughts, and attitudes, as well as fulfill their purposes and persuade individuals of specific messages. It aims to investigate the significance of facial expressions and how they affect interaction, as strategies of persuasion in political interviews. To achieve these aims, two sorts of approaches are used: theoretical and practical. The theoretical approaches entail explaining the fundamental concepts of persuasion and nonverbal communication.The practical processes, on the other hand, entail examining recorded videos of five political interviews from various regions and cultures around the world. The videos are collected from the YouTube channel. The selected interviews are evaluated using an eclectic model based on Cialdini's (2001) model of persuasion techniques, Matsumoto's (2013) model of universal facial expression forms and functions, and Argyle and Dean's (1965) model of eye contact functions. The results of analyzing the collected data demonstrate that both interlocutors, interviewer and interviewee, highly employ facial expressions as persuasive techniques and strategies in political TV interviews, but they differ in the degree of using facial expressions and the purposes. The interviewer has an impact on the guest and persuades him to speak frankly. The interviewee, on the other hand, employs facial expressions to convey his point of view, intentions, and feelings to the interviewer and audience. In relation to the use of eye contact, the function of information seeking is the most important and frequently occurring function, and then come the functions of happiness and liking.