Sunday, September 22, 2013

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2531: Bo Xilai's Body Language - Hand and Facial Tension Correlation (PHOTOS)
















Bo Xilai was found guilty on all counts earlier today and received a life sentence for bribery, fifteen years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power. His father, Bo Yibo, was a revolutionary alongside Chairman Mao Zedong as well as a leader under Deng Xiaoping. Bo Xilai had become a highly productive and respected party chief of Chongqing and until recently he was considered a rising star in China's top political circles.

In these images Bo Xilai can be seen during his trial. Note the tension evident on his face.

A particular detail which should never be overlooked or dismissed is the contraction of the central forehead (CFC) muscles (with the peripheral or sides of the forehead being relaxed). This is virtually always accompanied by an elevation of the inner (medial) eyebrows. Although the resolution is somewhat low here, this can still be readily seen in this close-up image. The CFC is seen when there is emotional or physical pain - either being experienced directly for oneself or for another person(s) or animal via empathy. Whenever this is the case however, there should always be a co-existing expression on the mouth congruent with sadness, pain or fear. No hint of a smile should ever be seen in this emotional context.

Mid-facial tension is seen in this image. One example of this is a mild fear expression component displayed on Bo Xilai's mouth along with significant tension of his "mustache area" above his upper lid and below his nose.


In this second image, Bo Xilai can be seen holding his eyeglasses in his left hand and a pen in right hand. While his hands are not in tight fists, they are manifesting moderate tension here. The act of holding relatively small objects such as these will often "give the hands something to do" and keep them less tense. Otherwise they would be displaying even greater stress which has a feed-back affect creating increased negative emotion and accompanying display on the face. Relaxed hands beget a relaxed face while low-tension in the face leads to a similar effect of the hands. The behavior of these two body parts closely mirror and influence each other nonverbally.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis #2291:  A Tight Fist and Tension in The Face -  Jay Carney's Body Language as he defends  Chuck Hagel's performance during  Senate Confirmation Hearings

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2337:  Rick Santorum at 2013 CPAC  Body Language,Facial Tension & Hand Tension

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1888:  Rod Stewart & Ron Wood -  How the Hand and Face Collaborate

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2132:  Variations on a Theme -  The Palm-Forward Dominant Spider (The Claw) vs.  The Split-Finger Fastball

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1918:  Vladimir Putin - Pointing with Pen Surrogates -  Sharp vs. Blunt

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2161:  Body Language of the Third Presidential Debate -  Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -  What Did They Do With Their Hands  When They Weren't Talking?

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2457:  Surfer Gets Knocked Unconscious by Whale  Body Language Basics from Bondi Beach

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