Our latest publication is a study done by Emrah and Paul. They analysed three Turkish presidential candidates (Demirtaş, Erdogan and Ihsanoglu, in alphabetical order) during their speeches on the 3rd of August. Emrah and Paul analysed the presidential candidates on their facial expressions using FaceReader. With the presidential elections coming up the study received quite some publicity, especially in Turkey.

The conclusion was that Ihsanoglu stands out as the candidate who uses his mimics the most with 32%, Erdogan follows with 15% and Demirtas is the one with the least usage of his mimics with 6%. Furthermore, it is observed that the common expression of Erdogan is anger with 82% and fear is following that with 10%. Similarly, the analysis of Ihsanoglu shows that, anger is the most common expression with 74% and disgust follows that with 20%. According to the analysis of Demirtas, the most common expression is happiness with 50% and fear is following that with 34%.

Such an analysis would definitely be more interesting during a real time discussion on a TV program where all the candidates are present. However, under the current conditions, this is the best possible unbiased way to have a comparative analysis during the publicity speech where TRT is officially liable to broadcast.

Read the blog, the whole publication in the Cornell University Library or the Turkish newspaper article below.