Friday, November 2, 2012

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2175:
Mayor Bloomberg, Body Language,
Hurricane Sandy and the NYC Marathon





Update: Under growing pressure, Mayor Bloomberg has cancelled the New York City Marathon. The following post was from earlier today and offers some clues into the mindset of the Mayor at that time.

Many of the residents of New York City, especially the of areas most hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy, are particularly critical of the decision to go forward with the NYC Marathon so soon after the superstorm - this Sunday, 5 November 2012.

In this CBS video clip, Mayor Michael Bloomberg show nonverbal signals of apprehensions or worse, which are not consistent with his verbal statements. This is especially true when the Mayor displays a nose touch (1:09) after saying, ".... but we have plenty of police officers that work in areas that are unaffected ...." Facial MAPs (Manipulators, Adaptors, Pacifiers) - particularly certain ones such as a nose touch after making a definitive statement - especially in the high stress context of a press conference after a hurricane - are highly consistent with possible deception.

Another similar Anxiety-Possible Deception MAP is seen at the 0:45 mark after Mayor Bloomberg says, " ...it's a relatively small amount, it's the sanitation departments resources do it - and we have to have a city going forward ..." Here he scratches multiple times in front of and above his right ear.




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