Doctored Politics: Using the Componential Processing Model of emotion to understand U.K. & U.S. responses to videos of Nigel Farage.

Basic Emotion Theory (BET), byassertingthat happiness, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness have prototypical facial expressions and physiological signatures, is being re considered due to these emotions rarely being observed orinterpreted as theorized. The Componential Processing Model (CPM) of emotion improves upon the BET by considering how individuals appraise relevant information using a multi-stage pre-conscious and conscious process, including contextual factors. Information regarding relevance, implications, coping, and norms is processed in an ongoing basis sothat patterns of differences ought to exist based upon stimuli and the population. We consider CPM’s applicability to politics using a 1:20s long attack on United Kingdom immigration policies by current political leader of Reform UK,Nigel Farage as stimulus. We evaluate Farage’s facial behavior by manually coding it usingthe Facial Action Coding System(FACS). We then test CPM predictions using a cross-cultural on-line study of 356U.S. and U.K. undergraduates in a 2 (political context = U.S. vs. UK) X 5 (Observable Audience Response = control, applause, laughter, booing, laughter & booing) experiment that evaluates their effect on nine variables measuring CPM appraisal.We conclude by making suggestions for follow up studies.