Pumping Up the Base: Deployment of Strong Emotion and Simple Language in Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches

Background and Method: This research examines the nomination acceptance speeches of US presidential candidates from Republican and Democratic parties in the post-WWII mass communication era (1948–2020, 38 speeches). Variables studied are the emotional tone of the speeches, their abstractness, their Grade Level, their employment of personal pronouns and their mentions of “America”. Speeches were scored with the Dictionary of Affect in Language (a sentiment analysis tool).Predictions: On the basis of functionalist theories of political discourse, it was predicted that the speeches would have a pleasant and active or celebratory emotional tone. Based on related research that focused on the effects of mass distribution on presidential communications, it was predicted that the speeches would increase in pleasantness, arousal and linguistic simplicity across years.Results: As predicted, speeches were pleasant and active in tone. Across years, speeches became significantly more arousing, less abstract, simpler, and longer. When individual speeches were divided into five equal portions, a strong significant quadratic trend was observed for pleasantness, which started high at the beginning of a speech, fell in the center, and rose again at the end.Conclusions: Presidential nomination acceptance speeches are emotionally pleasant and active and linguistically simple (Grade 8 level). Between 1948 and 2020, they remained pleasant, and became more active and simpler. In service of their aim to “pump up the base” individual speeches began on a pleasant, nationalistic and personal note, encompassed duller and more impersonal material in their centers, and became positive again at the end.

Abstract P476: Consumption Of Animal And Plant Food And Likelihood Of Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction: A Prospective Study Among Black And White Adults Of The Bogalusa Heart Study

Introduction: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD) is one key subclinical precursor of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Whether dietary correlates serve as independent predictors of LVDD in adults without HFpEF is unknown. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that dietary habits in young adulthood would prospectively influence the likelihood of LVDD in middle age. Methods: The analysis included 456 individuals of the Bogalusa Heart Study (26.5% black, 62.7% female, baseline age=36.1 + 4.4 years) with an ejection fraction > 55%. Diet was measured at baseline via food frequency questionnaires. LVDD was defined at follow-up (median=12.9 years) through echocardiographic measurement of the E/A ratio, E/e’ ratio, isovolumic relaxation time, and deceleration time. Logistic regression estimated the odds of LVDD according to protein source, adjusting for cardiovascular disease risk factors and total energy intake. Results: There were 72 cases of LVDD. Using the lowest tertile as reference, persons in the middle tertile of total protein (OR=3.31, 95% CI: 1.47, 7.46; p=8.5x10 -3 ) and animal protein (OR=2.93, 95% CI: 1.35, 6.37; p=0.03) intake had the highest likelihoods of LVDD. We observed 54% and 57% lower odds of LVDD for persons in the highest vs. lowest tertile of vegetable (OR=0.46, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.95; p=8.0x10 -4 ) and legume consumption (OR=0.43, 95% CI: 0.20, 0.92; p=0.02), respectively. Total protein, animal protein, processed meat, and eggs indicated a significant quadratic trend towards increased odds of LVDD, while legumes and vegetables indicated a significant quadratic trend toward decreased odds of LVDD ( Table ). There were no significant relationships of LVDD with other animal or plant foods. Conclusions: Animal and plant food consumption result in an increased and decreased likelihood of LVDD, respectively. Adherence to plant-based diets in young adulthood may protect against the development of LVDD, and thus future HFpEF, later in life.

On perceiving morality and potency: Social values and the effects of person perception in a give‐some dilemma

The present study examines a two‐person give‐some dilemma characterized by the conflict between the pursuit of own benefits (not giving) and collective benefits (giving). The major purpose was two‐fold: (a) to examine the effects of person perceptions manipulated along the dimensions of morality (goodness) and potency (strength) on co‐operation, and (b) to examine whether pre‐existing differences between individuals in their preference for specific self‐other outcome distributions (social values) would modify the effects of person perception. First, we predicted and found that across social values the degree of co‐operative behaviour increased as a linear function of the extent to which the other was seen as moral. Concerning the perceptions in terms of potency, we found a significant quadratic trend; another seen as moderate on potency elicited more co‐operative behaviour than another seen as either high or low on potency. These effects of person perception were not moderated by social value. More interesting was the finding that even though persons classified as pro‐social (co‐operators and altruists) and pro‐self (individualists and competitors) held about the same expectation about the magnitude of another's co‐operation, pro‐socials behaved more co‐operatively than pro‐selfs. This suggests that under certain conditions behavioural differences between pro‐socials and pro‐selfs are not conditional upon expectational differences between those two social values.