Thursday, October 13, 2016

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3723: The 2nd Presidential Debate - Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton - Body Language, Emotional Intelligence and Deception (VIDEO, PHOTOS)





The first question in the second 2016 Presidential Debate (9 October 2016) came from audience member and undecided voter, Patrice Brock.

Beginning at 1:15, Ms. Brock says, "Thank you and good evening. The last presidential debate could have been rated as MA, mature audiences per TV parental guidelines. Knowing that educators assign viewing the presidential debates as students’ homework, do you feel you are modeling appropriate and positive behavior for today’s youth?"

Hillary Clinton then answers first [omitted here], followed by  

Donald Trump responding (beginning at 3:35), "Well I’ll actually agree with that. I agree with everything she said.... " Mr. Trump then spoke about multiple unrelated subjects for 2 min 03 seconds.

Anderson Cooper (beginning at 5:42): Thank you Mr. Trump. The question from Patrice was about ‘Are you both modeling positive and appropriate behaviors for today's youth?’ We received a lot of questions online, Mr. Trump about the tape that was released on Friday, as you can imagine. You called what you said ‘locker room banter’. You described kissing women without consent, grabbing their genitals. That is sexual assault. You bragged that you have sexually assaulted women. Do you understand that?

Trump: No, I didn’t say that at all. I don't think you understood what was said. This was locker room talk. I am not proud of it. I apologize to my family, I apologized to the American people. Certainly, I am not proud of it. But this is locker room talk. You know, when we have a world where you have ISIS chopping off heads, where you have them, frankly, drowning people in steel cages, where you have wars and horrible, horrible sights all over and you have so many bad things happening, this is like medieval times. We haven’t seen anything likes this. The carnage all over the world and they look and they see, can you imagine the people that are frankly doing so well against us with ISIS and they look at our country and see what's going on. Yes, I am very embarrassed by it and I hate it, but it's locker room talk and it’s one of those things. I will knock the hell out of ISIS. We are going to defeat ISIS. ISIS happened a number of years ago in a vacuum that was left because of bad judgment. And I will tell you, I will take care of ISIS. We need to get on to much more important and bigger things.

Cooper: For the record, are you saying that what you said on the bus 11 years ago, that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent?

Trump: I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.

Cooper: So for the record, you’re saying you never did that?

Trump: Frankly, you hear these things. They are said. And I was am embarrassed by it. But I have respect for women  -

Cooper: - Have you ever done those things?

Trump: - And they have respect for me. And I will tell you, no I have not. And I will tell you, that I’m going to make our country safe and we’re going to have borders which we don't have now. People are pouring into our country and they’re coming in from the Middle East and other places. We’re gonna make America safe again, we’re gonna make America great again but we’re gonna make America safe again and we’re gonna make America wealthy again. Because if you don't do that, it just, it sounds harsh to say, but we have to build up the wealth of our nation. Other nations are taking our job and they’re taking our wealth.

In this exchange there's an excellent example of a cluster of verbal, paralanguage and nonverbal behavior which is highly consistent with lying. Note the following characteristics:


1. Donald Trump doesn't answer the question from the Patrice Brock

2. Mr. Trump also doesn't answer the question when re-asked multiple times by Anderson Cooper

3. Trump changed the subject multiple times

4. His answer/non-answers of "I am not proud of it", "I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do. ", "I was am embarrassed by it", "And they have respect for me", "No, I didn’t say that at all. I don't think you understood what was said" etc. - all are paralanguage examples demonstrating his attempts at answering indirectly while steering clear of making a definitive denial on camera.

5. When he finally did answer, Mr. Trump did so using a non-contraction (he said, "no I have not" rather than, "no I didn't"). Using non-contractions when refuting an accusation is highly consistent with deception.

6. Donald Trump wasn't looking at Anderson Cooper (or Ms. Brock) during the vast majority of his explanation. His extended non-eye contact is very consistent with and a common pattern seen during deception.

7. When he finally did answer, Mr. Trump then looked at Mr. Cooper - however he immediately closed his eyes displaying an extended blink during the entire statement of: " no I have not ". This is another variation of non-eye contact.


Summary: The cluster of verbal, paralanguage, nonverbal behavior of Donald Trump's, in this segment, are highly consistent with deception.


























See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3722: The 2nd Presidential Debate - Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton - One Positive Thing They Respect about Each Other

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2863: Gary Oldman's Apology on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" - Sincere or Insincere?


Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3720: The 2nd Presidential Debate - Donald Trump v. Hillary Clinton 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3718: Donald Trump's "Access Hollywood" Hot Mic Video 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3708: Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump - Presidential Debates - Part IV - Hillary's Email Anxiety 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3701: Hillary Clinton, Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3676: Colin Kaepernick Says He Be Sitting Down During the National Anthem

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3635: Michelle Obama's DNC Speech and a Body Language Mistake


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