Body Language & Emotional Intelligence: Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3249: Chattanooga Military Mass Shooting - Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez and a very Telling Facial Expression (PHOTOS)

Friday, July 17, 2015

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3249: Chattanooga Military Mass Shooting - Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez and a very Telling Facial Expression (PHOTOS)

It's difficult to look into the face of a killer. This image is the mug shot of Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez taken in April of this year when he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Yesterday Abdulazeez opened fired on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He killed four marines and wounded three people before he was fatally shot by police officers. One man, a navy petty officer, later died from his wounds. My deepest condolences to their families and loved-ones.

From a nonverbal perspective Abdulazeez's facial expression displays clear yet not extreme contempt. On a scale from 0 - 10 (with 10 being maximum) his level of contempt expression is about a 4. Those who perpetrate mass shootings and crimes of terrorism virtually always display chronic expressions contempt, disgust and/or anger (Can you consistently identify moderate or subtle examples of these expressions?). Of course this does not mean that all those who display the nonverbal signals consistent with these emotions will go on to commit these or other crimes. However those individuals who display such patterns of behavior will predictably have much higher incidences of :

Narcissistic personality disorder
Impulse control problems
Predilections toward violence

It's amazing how many otherwise socially adept people will misidentify Abdulazeez's expression - and therefore his emotions as well. In addition, the further anyone who views this and all other expressions are from their emotional baseline - the more likely they are to mislabel the feelings behind a face. Thus learning how to accurately read nonverbal expressions (and all body language) allows us to use these as tools of objectivity when, as human beings, we are inherently biased - and often extremely so.

How objective are you? Can you spot disparities between what is said and what is felt? Can you see problems and behaviors before they happen?

This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

__________________________________