Race, Gender, and the Nonverbal Power of Kamala Harris

A collaboration...

Preface

This column is a collaboration. The order of authorship follows:

Erin Cooley, Associate Professor of Psychology, Colgate University

Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia

Ryan Lei, Associate Professor of Psychology, Haverford College

Robert Leonard is an anthropologist who writes at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.

After our column, I provide an afterword sharing how the collaboration came about

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Race, Gender, and the Nonverbal Power of Kamala Harris

“It is literally impossible to be a woman.” – America Ferrera in The Barbie Movie

One of the reasons The Barbie Movie won Academy Awards is because Ferrera’s speech resonates. It resonates with women because they live this reality; it resonates with men because they invariably know women who live it. Yet, from VP Harris’ first step on stage, and with a purposeful stride to shake former President Trump’s hand, it was clear she could win the debate without speaking a word. In contrast to the mouth-agape, seemingly lost visions of Biden, Harris managed to exude what many women political candidates have struggled to capture: likability and warmth, but also power and competence. The fact that across U.S. history we have never elected a woman President may lie in the complexity of being a woman who is both “appropriately” warm and reliably competent in a male-dominated political sphere.

Indeed, these intuitions are supported by decades of psychological research. This work tells us that when making judgments about others, we rely on two key evaluations: is this person competent? And, is this person likable? And, being perceived as neither competent nor likable reliably elicits contempt, while being perceived as both competent and likable reliably elicits admiration. If a Presidential candidate can portray their opponent as cold and incompetent while also conveying their own combination of warmth and power, it’s likely to be a recipe for success. Harris seemed to know this well. 

After the initial handshake, Harris effortlessly glided between focused listening and meaning-loaded smiles. At one point, hand affixed to her chin in bemused intrigue, Harris resembled a mother glancing at a toddler who is having a knock-em-down tantrum in the candy aisle of the supermarket. The fact that she used maternal nonverbals to unhinge her opponent is an ironic twist on the meme-worthy childless cat-lady critiques of liberals from the Trump campaign. So, how did our potential first woman U.S. President manage to swing the prediction markets by 11 points over the span of one debate?

Traditional gender roles prescribe that women should be demure, soft-spoken, and polite. Yet, these traits are arguably the opposite of traits that make a successful president. Pundits on either side of the aisle would be hard-pressed to argue that Harris displayed any of these traditionally “feminine” qualities in her performance. Usually, when women break from their expected gender roles, they face negative consequences. For example, research finds that women who exhibit power in the workplace face backlash in the form of lower status and salaries than men who behave the same way. So, how did Harris manage to edge the double standard of needing to be powerful for the Presidential role, while curtailing backlash for failing to abide by stereotypical expectations of “women”? The answer may lie in how Harris differs.

One salient way that Harris differs from prior women Presidential hopefuls who have reached this level of success, is her race. Campaigning while Black in the United States is imbued with the history of slavery--adding complexity to the nearly impossible task of being a woman.

Because Black women endured an unimaginable amount of violence and mistreatment during and following slavery, several stereotypes emerged which were attempts to justify this horrific behavior. For example, Black women were stereotyped to be physically strong and immune to pain, suggesting that they could endure the physical labor and violence of enslavement. For the same reasons, Black women were horrifyingly subjected to experimental surgeries sans pain medication. This historical context gave rise to the contemporary reality that Black women navigate unique hurdles as women in politics.

For example, research from the labs of the three senior authors and others suggests that these historically-rooted stereotypes may shape who people expect to be feminine, as well as how gendered facial expressions and body language are perceived. For example, when people are asked to think of a “woman” they more often think of a “White woman” than a Black woman. Because the default stereotype is to see Black women as less feminine than White women, we find that nonverbal displays associated with femininity, such as a smile, are perceived as measurably more warm and feminine when expressed by a Black (vs. White) woman. As a result, participants in our studies convey more positive expectations for an interaction with a smiling Black woman than a White woman with the same facial expression. Likewise, we have found that Black women conveying stereotypically masculine displays of power/competence are less likely to be perceived as violating feminine gender expectations of fragility than a White woman conveying the same nonverbals. In short, our research suggests that racialized gendered expectations mean that Harris’ use of nonverbals during the debate may have helped her embody both warmth and power--a coveted combination that many women political candidates before her have struggled to attain.

That said, even though Harris may occasionally be able to harness stereotypes about Black women to undercut her opponent, she also must walk an impossible tightrope. Even stereotypes that seem ‘positive’ impose restrictive boundaries on behaviors, and their presumed benefits can belie the subtle ways they undercut a woman’s ability to succeed. One need not look hard to find pundits who think that Harris needs to stay in her lane--dialing back her power-laden nonverbals. Such “advice” seems more like thinly-veiled prejudice. To appease everyone, Harris would need to be superhuman - simultaneously powerful, warm, demure, polite, submissive, dominant. 

But Harris’ task isn’t to appease everyone. Her task is to demonstrate her leadership qualities - her competence, composure, power, and empathy. And, while some may refuse to see these qualities in any woman, especially a Black woman, many are open to this possibility. Harris’ verbal responses were powerful, but perhaps even more so, the manner in which she responded - tone, gestures, expressions - may have threaded the eye of the needle. Such a delicate task may be just as onerous as being President of the United States.

Perhaps there was a reason that Issa Rae, a Black woman, was chosen to play President Barbie. Only the election will determine whether a Black woman president remains in the realm of fantasy or becomes reality.

Erin Cooley, Associate Professor of Psychology, Colgate University

Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia

Ryan Lei, Associate Professor of Psychology, Haverford College

Robert Leonard is an anthropologist who writes at Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture.

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Afterword

I first met then-Senator Kamala Harris in 2019 when she was competing in the Iowa caucuses. I was standing at the top of the stairs on the second floor of the Brickhouse Tavern in Indianola, Iowa as she climbed the stairs toward a waiting crowd of maybe 50 people. As she neared the top, she began to hear the chatter of those waiting for her to reverberate down the stairwell. She smiled as she topped the stairs, looking to the right and left, surprised and delighted that so many had come to see her. It was near standing room only, and people had to back up to give her room to speak.

Most of the people there were women, and they greeted her like a long-lost sister. There were smiles, laughter, hugs, and plenty of elbow and shoulder touches.

I have been interested in gestures and facial expressions since grad school when an ethnologist friend, David Givens, wrote a book called Love Signals: A Practical Field Guide to the Body Language of Courtship.

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During the Trump/Harris debate, I watched with delight as Harris eviscerated Trump nonverbally, slicing and dicing him into little bitty pieces. Her words mattered, most certainly, but I found her use of facial expressions, gestures, and body language fascinating. In contrast, Trump didn’t even have the courage to look at Harris, as my fellow Iowa Writers’ Collaborative member Dave Busiek pointed out.

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I knew before the debate was over that I was going to write about it, but that plenty of research would be needed for me to put together something of value. I started digging into Google Scholar the next morning and found that the senior author of this column, Erin Cooley, and her colleagues had written lots on the subject and that I was in over my head. But that’s never stopped me before.

On a whim, I emailed Erin and asked if she was interested in collaborating on the column, and she was! She brought in more expertise with invites to Jazmin Brown-Iannuzzi and Ryan Lei, and we were off!

We held a fun brainstorming session on ZOOM on how to frame the story and the possible elements of it, and Erin took the lead and wrote an excellent draft in 24 hours, I believe. Jazmin and Ryan shared their thoughts and I tinkered a bit around the edges.

We are grateful to my fellow Iowa Writers Collaborative member Rachelle Chase for providing helpful suggestions/comments on our drafts.

Since I have published in the New York Times before, I thought we had a real shot of getting it placed there, especially if we acted quickly. It’s a take I haven’t seen elsewhere.

Alas, as one might suspect, the Times had oodles of submissions about the debate and passed.

As I well know, just because something doesn’t make the New York Times, doesn’t mean it isn’t any good. Which is why we are publishing it here.

We hope you enjoy it.

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Iowa's 1st and 3rd Congressional races heat up

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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled the Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun!