Impact Modeling (Case Study of Political Talk Shows as Multimodal Events)

On the material of the political talk show Maybrit Illner and pre-election debates, the article analyzes the mechanism of influence implemented by a combination of semiotic means within the multimodal interaction. The cognitive impact model in multimodal interaction takes into account components of different sensory modalities that are relevant for the addresser to form the target model of addressee’s perception, multi-level cognitive processing of information encoded by different types of characters, integrity of the image formed on the basis of needs and expectations, experience and primary sensations of the addressee. All sensory modes are treated as equal. The analysis of patterns of the influence of a speaker carried out in accordance with the presented model reveals the mechanism of interaction between verbal and kinetic components. Communicative contributions realized by these components may be different. Interaction of scenarios launched by critical elements of the verbal and kinetic content generates the target model, i.e., the response of the addressee. Keywords—political talk show; scenario; model; impact; perception