Power of Perception: Unveiling the Multidimensional Dynamics of Candidate Preference

My dissertation, titled "Power of Perception: Unveiling the Multidimensional Dynamics of Candidate Preferences," explores the intricate factors that influence political decision-making. In three papers, I study the diverse elements of both verbal and non-verbal communication in candidate preferences, with a particular focus on candidate gender. More specifically, I look at how candidates’ physiological characteristics, such as vocal and facial characteristics, affect voter decision-making processes and impression formation, and how priming candidates’ social identities can affect voting behaviour. In doing so, I use a combination of automated video analysis, survey and field experiments.