The Relationship between Laughter and Effective Presidential Leadership: A case study of the ‘great communicator'

• In Event: Everything is Political

Brief Overview

We content analyze and experimentally test the influence of audience laughter regarding the 1984 CBS Leslie Stahl - Ronald Reagan news report. Findings show that observable audience response likely had an effect on public perceptions.

Authors

• Patrick A. Stewart, University of Arkansas

• Erik P. Bucy, Texas Tech University

• Reagan Dye, The George Washington University