Thursday, February 2, 2012

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 1003:
Obama's Dropped Jaw Smile































Here we see yet another common type of false smile, this time by then Presidential Candidate, Senator Obama - four years ago at the Iowa State Fair. Of course, people in the public eye feel the need to smile dramatically and often. This is a very human desire and most people would feel the need to do the same if they were one in the limelight. That being said, the smile displayed here by Mr. Obama is forced and not indicative of the emotion of Joy-Happiness. This variety of false smile, known as a "Dropped Jaw Smile" (Pease) or a False Surprise Smile (Ekman) is a relatively easy nonverbal for most to replicate and represents a very common type of insincere smile. As mentioned in a post yesterday (see: Secret # 1009: A Sure Sign of a False Smile), whenever the forehead is wrinkled - the smile is always feigned. In addition, candidate Obama's eyelids are opened wider than normal here (particularly on Barack's right), which is never seen with a sincere smile either - in fact, the eyelids should be partially closed - and in a very particular manner - during a smile born of sincerity (see: Secret # 353: Brad Pitt's Eyes - Sincere and Insincere Smiles).

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