Say what you will about Barack Obama’s campaign strategies or proposed policies, the man has a great smile. A smile that his audiences often can’t help but mirror. And that may be one reason he is so persuasive, suggests University of Florida associate professor Amir Erez and his colleagues.
“It’s emotional contagion,” explains Erez. “Charismatic leaders are happier themselves, and they spread their happiness to others.” Because people like feeling happy, they tend to follow leaders who augment their cheer.
In other words, “people are influenced by charismatic leaders because charismatic leaders make them feel happy,” says Erez. Yet most of this mutual lovefest unfolds under the radar of awareness. As a result, followers usually cannot even say what they like about a charismatic leader, and charismatic leaders usually do not understand why people flock to them.
Erez and his team studied both undergraduates in laboratory experiments and firefighters in the real world. They first find that charismatic leaders both feel and act more joyful than do their less captivating counterparts. “They smile more, they laugh more, they are warmer,” says Erez.
The researchers then show that people working with charismatic leaders themselves feel more mirthful. Finally, the team uses statistical modeling to show that charismatic leaders’ happy feelings and expressions induce similar sanguinity in their followers.
Across the globe, dozens of other studies find that charismatic leaders are more effective, inspiring greater productivity, effort, commitment, and job satisfaction among their followers. Yet little research has explored exactly why or how charisma works.
Most previous studies focus on what charismatic leaders say or how they say it. Erez and colleagues’ studies are among the first to explore how charismatic leaders feel and how they make their followers feel.
“Leaders should know that they influence followers’ emotions,” says Erez. “They should wield that power carefully.”
Amir Erez, Vilmos F. Misangyi, Diane E. Johnson, Marcie A. LePine, and Kent C. Halverson, “Stirring the Hearts of Followers: Charismatic Leadership as the Transferal of Affect,” Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 2008.
Read more stories by Alana Conner.