Monday, January 4, 2016

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3425: Donald Trump's first Campaign Ad Commercial - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)





This website serves as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.

Donald Trump's first campaign ad was released earlier today. It's a 30 second commercial reiterating some of his same statements and promises he's made before.

As a forum for learning body language, Mr. Trump's commercial provides an illustration in an often over-generalized nonverbal signal: The Jaw Jut.

Statistically, the most common emotion being manifested with a jaw jut is that of anger. However, as with all body language - it can have different meanings depending upon the other nonverbal signals with which it is clustered. Think of it this way - a woman can be "hot" - or it's "hot" outside in Phoenix in August - or these peperoncini are "hot" - or the subject of the growing rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia is certainly a "hot" topic in the news. In these examples, the word "hot" is a homonym. It's spelled the same and pronounced the same - yet it has four very different meanings. When each word is lifted out of its respective sentence - and evaluated in isolation (out of context) we would have no idea which meaning was being used. However, within their sentences, even a 12 year can readily discern the differences. There are many body language homonyms too - and a jaw jut is but one. The trick is, to be able to "read" the rest of the (body language) sentence - not just one word.

A specific subset of this nonverbal is exhibited when A. anger is not present, and B. the jaw juts forward with C. significant lower teeth exposure - as seen here in successive photos of Donald Trump from his campaign ad as he says, "We will Make - America - Great - Again" - different emotions are present.

Regardless of the cause, whenever you see a jaw jutting forward, you can be sure an emotional state which is far from baseline is being experienced. If anger is absent (look for the many other signals of anger) - and if the lower teeth are also being bared - then with very high probability there is a combination of both hubris and insincerity present.




0:27.2

"... Make ..."

















0:27.8


"... America ..."















0:29

"... Great ..."


















0:30


"... Again ..."















See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3424: Donald Trump, "Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3371: John Kasich at the Republican Debate 


Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3293: Why is Donald Trump a Better Liar than Most Politicians? 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3152: Hillary Clinton First Campaign Ad - "Getting Started"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3401: Jeb Bush and Anxiety - Body Language 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3362: Marco Rubio and Alleged Misuse of State Party Credit Card 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3406: Republican Debate, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and a Body Language Tell for Insincerity

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3324: Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin Shake Hands at UN Luncheon 



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