Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2404:
Internal Lip Roll and other Body Language
associated with Suppression of Sadness





Recently (18 May 2013) U.S. Airways Express Flight 4560 made an emergency landing at Newark International Airport. The landing gear failed to deploy properly so the pilot was forced to make a flawless "belly landing" with no gear. Very fortunately there were no injuries.

Linda Demarest, one of the 31 passengers on board was interviewed in the above video. Noteworthy are several body language signals. One of these is what is known as an "Inward Lip Roll" (ILR). The inward lip roll is a sign that the mind is trying to dampen an escalation of strong emotions. Most commonly these are anger and sadness; however other emotions such as joy/happiness (partial suppression of laughter) and disgust can co-exist with an ILR.






In this partial display of an ILR, the lips are not fully rolled inward. Note the wrinkling of the chin as well.













In this more complete ILR, there is concomitant downward directing of the corners of Ms. Demarest's mouth. Also very typical for sadness display is the simultaneous contraction of her central forehead as well as her downward direction of her eyebrows and more pronounced chin wrinkling.

Other body language very common with higher emotional displays of sadness is her looking down and away as well as her significant shifting (squirming) and repositioning in her chair.

In the context of a controlled crash landing and the recall of such dramatic events, we are not surprised by Linda's emotional display. Yet very often more subtle examples of these and other nonverbals are seen in the every day and missed - by the educated, successful and by those who believe themselves observant.

What other body language was present in this video?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2393:  Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro's daughter Angie Gregg -  Body Language of Sincere Emotional Pain & Empathy

Negotiation Secret # 171: A Subtle Sign of Sadness

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2053:  Strong Signal of Fear-Sadness Anxiety -  Aurora, Colorado "Batman Shooting"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2365:  Lindsey Vonn & Tiger Woods - Body Language at the Masters

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2374:  Tom Cruise on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Body Language of Emotional Dissonance

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2268:  Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Kathryn Bigelow & Jessica Chastain - Body Language at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards


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