Research
Overview
I am interested in interpersonal communication behaviour – particularly of politicians (in political interviews, speeches and parliamentary debates). This includes investigations into how politicians deal with challenging questions and the consequences of evasive responses, how political speakers and audiences interact, and the form and function of adversarial opposition at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Projects
I use qualitative and quantitative methods to study political discourse and have a particular interest in personalised exchanges (“playing the man, not the ball”) – for example, personalised evasive responses to interviewers’ questions and personal antagonism at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Collaborators
- Professor Peter Bull (University of York)
- Dr Jan Boehnke (University of Dundee)
- Professor Anita Fetzer (University of Augsburg)
Publications
Selected publications
Books
Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2023). The Psychology of Political Communication: Politicians Under the Microscope. Routledge.
Book chapters
Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2022). Under the microscope: Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK Parliament. In A. Weinberg (Ed.), The Psychology of Democracy, (pp. 84-101). Cambridge University Press.
Journal articles
- Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2023). Adversarial interaction in Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 11(2), 623-639.
- Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2021). Speaker-audience intercommunication in political speeches: A contrast of cultures. Journal of Pragmatics, 186, 167-178.
- Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2021). Stirring it up! Emotionality in audience responses to political speeches. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 25(3), 611-627.
- Waddle, M., & Bull, P. (2020). Curbing their antagonism: Topics associated with a reduction in personal attacks at Prime Minister’s Questions. Parliamentary Affairs, 73(3), 543-564.
- Waddle, M., & Bull, P. (2020). “You’re important, Jeremy, but not that important”: Personalised responses and equivocation in political interviews. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 8(2), 560-581.
- Waddle, M., & Bull, P. (2020). "Of course I'm going to ask about that": The politics of opposition during a national crisis. British Psychological Society Political Psychology Bulletin (Summer 2020).
- Waddle, M., Bull, P., & Böhnke, J. R. (2019). “He is just the nowhere man of British politics”: Personal attacks in Prime Minister’s Questions. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38(1), 61-84.
- Bull, P., & Waddle, M. (2019). “Let me now answer, very directly, Marie’s question”: The impact of quoting members of the public in Prime Minister’s Questions. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 7(1), 56-78.
- Waddle, M., & Bull, P. (2016). Playing the man, not the ball: Personalisation in political interviews. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 35(4), 412-434.
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