Earlier this month Rolling Stone magazine quoted Donald Trump speaking disparagingly about Carly Fiorina, "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?"
Carly fought back though - or rather her super PAC - "Carly for America" - did so. The above video - titled, "Look at this Face" is the ad they released just yesterday. One nonverbal display is particularly noteworthy here.
At multiple times when Ms. Fiorina is shown in this video she is displaying a fairly vigorous "Self-Righteous Head Wiggle" (SRHW).
The characteristics of the self-righteous head wiggle include:
- A side-to-side movement of the head & neck
- Displayed by a person who has very strong opinions about a specific opinion
- Often feels they've been personally attacked in some way
- Relatively high frequency (speed the is head moving back and forth) - although this may vary
- Amplitude is variable (the amount the head & neck are moving)
- May be of varying duration (microexpression or lasting for several seconds)
- May be isolated or in occurring in clusters
- May have a similar jaw movement component (and sometimes jaw movement is all that's displayed)
- May have a similar movement of the torso or abdomen (also sometimes exhibited in isolation)
- Displayed by an alpha personality or one who believes they are an alpha
- Often seen in a hierarchical setting (e.g. a speaker or "leader" on stage or on camera)
- Accompanied by self-assured emotional vocal tones
- Often the vocal pitch, volume and speed of speech all increase simultaneous with the SRHW
- May have a forward-vectoring additional component (indicating contempt, disgust or incredulity)
- May have a backward-vectoring component too (indicates arrogance and condescending emotions)
Thus in this example Carly Fiorina's display of the Self-Righteous Head Wiggle, is completely normal-for-context and very congruent with her verbal message as well as her vocal qualities. This trifecta (verbal, nonverbal and paralanguage all in agreement - indicates a high sincerity quotient.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3309: Delta State University Shooting (Mississippi) Suspect Shannon Lamb - Body Language Red Flags
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3075: Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son) Blasts Duke University for Muslim "Call to Prayer"
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3263: Barack Obama on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" - The Sarcastic Bobble Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3275: Carly Fiorina, The Republican Debate and Likability (or not)
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3297: 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II - Height, Intimidation and Surrender on the Mighty Mo'
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3255: Donald Trump and a Body Language Signal of Social Fear and Hesitancy
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3271: Donald Trump, Smiling out of Context and Running as an Independent
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