The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
Adulation Tells
Another way that politicians can deflect aggression is by
making themselves appear popular and adorable. This
works on the simple psychological principle that we are
more likely to feel positively disposed towards someone if
they're popular. Their true qualities aren't that important -
what actually shapes our feelings and makes us want to
associate with someone is the fact that other people like or
admire that person. It's exactly the same with politicians -
the more we see them being applauded or adored, the
higher they rise in our estimation. Politicians understand
this process, and that's one of the reasons why they go to
such lengths to surround themselves with admirers.
Basically politicians have three types of admirer - the
general public, the party faithful, and the adoring spouse.
The most convincing demonstrations of public adulation
occur when a politician moves through a crowd of the
party faithful who are clamouring to touch him or her.
The more dramatically people reach out, the faster the
politician moves through the crowd and the more he or
she appears to enjoy the experience, the more irresistible,
even god-like, the politician appears to be. This kind of
adulation is essential to politicians and it can be achieved
in several ways. As the sociologist Max Atkinson points out
in Our Masters' Voices, politicians use a fascinating range
of strategies to elicit applause from an audience. 7 One
trick is to use 'contrasting pairs', where an undesirable
option, for example, is compared to a highly favourable
outcome. Another is the 'three-part list', which conveniently
provides the audience with clues about when to
start applauding. The way that politicians control applause
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