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The Influence of Non-Verbal Behavior on the Political Communication Process

Elisha Babad shared his research with Media Education Lab team members and friends.

Elisha Babad is Anna Lazarus Professor of Educational and Social Psychology and former Dean of the School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He received his BA degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1967, and his PhD in psychology (minor in Education) from Duke University in 1971.Over the years, he taught at Wellesley College (1971), University of Pennsylvania (1979-1981), University of Waikato in New Zealand (1990), Princeton University (1995), University of Edinburgh (2002), and University of Buenos Aires (2007).

He investigated self-fulfilling Pygmalion and Golem effects in the classroom, teachers' susceptibility to bias and their differential classroom behavior, "the teachers' pet phenomenon," and also phenomena of wishful thinking in prediction of elections and sports competitions.

Recent research examines thin slices of teachers' nonverbal behavior in higher education and in high school, and the prediction of students' evaluations from such thin slices. Current research includes students' perceptions and judgments of teachers, students' decision making processes in selecting and in dropping courses, and the psychological price of media bias, investigated through the nonverbal behavior of TV interviewers and its effects of viewers' impressions of the interviewee.