From self-report to behavior: Mapping charisma onto naturalistic gaze patterns. (1st January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Maran, Thomas; Moder, Sebastian; Furtner, Marco; Ravet-Brown, Theo; Liegl, Simon
• Is Part Of: Personality and individual differences. Volume 152(2019)
• Publication Date: 2020-01-01
• Subjects: Charisma -- Communication -- Eye movements -- Gaze behavior -- Visual attention -- Nonverbal behavior; Personality -- Periodicals; Individuality -- Periodicals; Individuality -- Periodicals; Personality Development -- Periodicals; Personnalité -- Périodiques; Individualité -- Périodiques; 155.205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2019.109562
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0191-8869

Abstract

Abstract: Charisma is a trait, widely taken to facilitate the exertion of social influence over others in a plethora of everyday situations, ranging from customer relations over doctor-patient exchanges and leader-follower interactions to instructional encounters. Previously ill-defined, a recent approach conceptualizes charisma from a signaling perspective, focusing on specific, hitherto under-researched behavioral signals that characterize it. We suggest gaze behavior as one such, considering that it represents the most potent signal in daily conversation, with effects in myriad situations revolving around communication. Our study measures gaze, using eye-tracking on participants watching a dynamic social scene, and combines this with a novel conceptualization of everyday charisma. Our findings show that charisma can indeed be mapped onto naturalistic gaze behavior. More specifically, in the bipartite conceptualization of charisma employed in our study, it is charismatic influence which predicts social gazing towards the face, without any effect of charismatic affability. These findings further our understanding of how charisma shapes interpersonal behavior in everyday interactions. Highlights: Everyday charisma constitutes a repertoire of behavioral signals. Eye-tracking was employed to measure gaze behavior towards naturalistic social scenes. Charisma is linked to social gaze behavior. Charismatic individuals gaze longer and more frequently towards others faces.