Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour yesterday. He said that the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 was no different than the events of 9/11 or the Terrorist destruction that brought down Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
Although he (as the rest of us) has every right to feel angry - President Poroshenko is in a leadership position and thus his body language (along with his words and vocal qualities) carry tremendous impact.
When a person puts their hands together in a prayer-appearing configuration (ergo "Pseudo-Prayer") for anything more than a second or two (during a particularly important part of a speech or discussion - and with a congruent facial expression) - it sends emotional signals of arrogance.
When the Pseudo-Prayer is accompanied by the additional component of a vertical chopping motion (as Poroshenko does here) - it is even more patronizing.
Many people will over-use alpha body language - and President Poroshenko uses it much too long here.
It's a leader's job to build rapport and coalitions - not destroy them.
President Poroshenko presumably has good intentions here - yet the
"Pseudo-Prayer and Hand-Chop" nonverbal signal is condescending and he should have never used it.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2892: Alexander Borodai - Donetsk's People's Republic Prime Minister (Pro-Russian Separatist Leader) interview with Chris Cuomo regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 - Body Language
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2830: Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian Elections and an Hyper-Alpha Body Language Signal
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2814: Ukraine, Pro-Russian Separatists, Bilateral Eyelid Closure and Emotional Processing - Body Language Tells
Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1083: Brewer's MAPs Flag Foreboding
Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1181: Helle Thorning-Schmidt & her False Praying Gesture
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