Last night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The comedian queried the Senator a boatload of random questions. Of course, there's always a smorgasbord of body language tells in such appearances, yet one in particular is highlighted here.
Beginning at 0:38, Kimmel asks Senator Cruz, "Who do you like better, Obama or Trump?".
Subsequently, during 0:41 - 0:42, Ted Cruz displays the "Underbite Lip Roll" with a concomitant suppressed smile.
This classic but rarely discussed facial expression cluster is very characteristic for the emotions accompanying the formulation of a diplomatic and tempered answer. Whenever you see this specific nonverbal display you can be sure the answer you'll be hearing will be highly diluted and mollified.
Thus the Underbite Lip Roll is one of many facial expressions made when there's a significant disparity between what is thought-felt and what is spoken.
This recent viral video above is a portion of Daisy Ridley's audition as "Rey" for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens.
In the portion of the video from 0:43 through 1:07, Daisy is acting as a victim who is being tortured for J.J. Abrams.
0:56
Although Ms. Ridley is quite expressive with her tears, eyes, mid-face and
mouth/jaw for someone who is in significant pain (along with some anger), throughout the duration of this segment, the woman who will by Rey showed very little, indeed almost zero forehead contraction. As long there are normal functioning facial nerves and muscles, it is impossible for a person who is being tortured (via either physical pain or emotional pain) to have their forehead demonstrate so little muscular contraction. The reason for this is almost certainly the use of Botox - inhibiting facial expression (specifically her forehead) and diminishes her ability to convey emotions.
In their medical training, physicians, or actors, are rarely - if ever - taught that the presence of significant levels of pain always has accompanying central forehead contraction (CFC) - not the entire width of the forehead. This knowledge comes in particularly valuable when discerning a "drug seeker" from a patient who is in sincere pain.
1:07
This moment captures more of the emotion of anger with significant lower eyelid tension, mid-face contraction, nasal flaring, bared teeth and a jaw jut.
With high levels of anger (rage) however, the eyelids are opened much wider than is seen here.
Summary: When experiencing even mild-moderate levels of pain, the central forehead muscles are always contracted. This is an absolute. The expression of a multitude of other emotions also require normal forehead muscle function - thus actors should never use Botox.
Intriguingly, when Botox treatments are administered - a high percentage of people will often display hyperbolic facial movements/melodramatic expressions in the portions of their faces' which remain functional.
Emilia Clarke, of Game of Thrones fame, is starring in the upcoming film, Me Before You. In the trailer included above, Ms. Clarke displays a rare nonverbal variation.
Beginning at 1:48, Clarke's character (Louisa Clark) says to Sam Claflin (as William Traynor) "Didn't you ever love anything that much?"
During 1:49, as she says, "... love ...", you will note that along with her elevated central forehead contraction (elevated CFC), her right forehead also raises up and her right eyebrow correspondingly moves with it.
This facial expression is a variation which is rare. Very few people can elevate their central forehead as well as one side of their forehead at the same time (voluntarily or involuntarily). Often nonverbal novices will confuse this with the medical scenario of an attempt at the elevation of the entire forehead coupled with a concomitant unilateral facial palsy(such as a Bell's Palsy). A well-known public figure in whom we can observe this is Senator John McCain.
When an elevated CFC is seen in conjunction with a mouth smile (as is exemplified here) one thought-emotion which should come to mind is incredulity. Depending on the other nonverbal signs with which it is clustered, it may also signal contempt or arrogance (yet not in this moment). Moreover when an eyebrow is elevated unilaterally - along with the forehead on that same side, we also should think of disbelief. In this scene the actress known by many as Daenerys Targaryen, displays both expressions simultaneously - strongly driving home the emotion to her audience.
The art of acting does not, of course, simply consist of memorizing scripts and speaking them with correct timing and emphasis - acting also involves body language. When all three - the nonverbal, the verbal and the vocal qualities are all congruent - it is in these moments when we recognize skilled acting.
Recently The National Enquirer published a story alleging Ted Cruz has had a series of extramarital affairs and named different five women. While campaigning in Wisconsin last Friday, Ted Cruz conducted a press conference addressing these allegations. A shortened video excerpt of this statement can be seen above and a partial transcript follows (A more complete video of Sen. Cruz's statement is included below).
"The next day, the National Enquirer published a story. It is a story that quoted one source on the record - Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s chief political advisor. Let me be clear, this National Enquirer story is garbage. It is complete and utter lies. It is a tabloid smear. And it is a smear that has come from Donald Trump and his henchmen. It is attacking my family, and what is striking - is Donald’s henchman, Roger Stone - had for months - been foreshadowing that this attack was coming. It’s not surprising that Donald Trump’s tweet occurs the day before the attack comes out. And I would note that Mr. Stone - is a man who has 50 years of dirty tricks behind him. He’s a man for whom - a term was coined - for copulating with a rodent. Well let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no desire to copulate with him. And this garbage does not belong in politics.
And the venue for this for this attack is not surprising - the National Inquirer. The CEO of The National Enquirer is an individual named David Pecker. Well David is good friends with Donald Trump. They have a friendship that goes back for many years - in fact, The National Enquirer has endorsed Donald Trump - has said he must be President. And so Donald, when he’s losing, when he’s scared, when Republicans are uniting against him - decides - to peddle sleaze and slime. You know, Donald is fond of giving people nicknames. With this pattern, he should not be surprised to see people calling him, 'Sleazy Donald'. Because that is his first and last resort - is to go to sleaze - and ignore the truth."
From a statement analysis standpoint there are several key points which point to deception. Note that Senator Cruz never states definitively, "No - I did not cheat on my wife" or "No - I never had an extramarital affair". Instead he implies it - e.g., "this National Enquirer story is garbage" or "It is a tabloid smear" or "It is attacking my family". This lack of a clear and plain statement of, "No" immediatelyfollowed by, "I have never had an extramarital affair" (or something very similar) - strongly suggests he is not telling the truth.
Another very telling statement analysis observation here is the dramatically disproportionate amount of words/sentences/time Senator Cruz spends on attacking his accusers compared with denying his guilt. This strikingly asymmetrical attacking-to-denying ratio is highly correlative with deception (Houston).
What is extremely bizarre, and to date has been barely addressed by anyone - is when Senator Cruz says, "He’s a man for whom - a term was coined - for copulating with a
rodent. Well let me be clear: Donald Trump may be a rat, but I have no
desire to copulate with him." Here Cruz is using a combination sexual metaphor-sexual literal, with his accuser to refute alleged sexual acts. He also further confuses Roger Stone with Donald Trump. One could search many a year and never find a paragraph so very Freudian.
If a journalist were to simply ask Senator Cruz clearly and succinctly, "Senator Cruz, for the record, have you ever cheated on your wife?" - we are likely to get, if only for a few seconds, a very different Ted Cruz.
Did you notice Senator Cruz has an aversion toward using contractions in this press conference? This tendency too points to deception.
Notice also Ted Cruz's vocal quality (paralanguage) - it has the same staccato, hyper-comma, measured, debate-style quality we're used to seeing - and which has served him very well during debates. In other words, Ted Cruz possesses vocal characteristics which have very little variation. Yet it's not the tone of voice used by a person who is either angry (and holding back a portion of their anger) or someone who is defending their honor. It's the same Ted Cruz we always hear. Every politician is certainly entitled to "sound like a politician" - but NOT when they're defending their honor. This does not sound sincere, it sounds political - it sounds acted. It is insincere.
From a body language standpoint, Ted Cruz's nonverbal vocabulary is also very repetitive. The same scant number of facial expressions and a small variety of repetitive hand-arm gestures also speak to a quite "limited nonverbal vocabulary". In fact if you mute the sound and watch his press conference, you will no variation from his nonverbal behavior in any other press conference. With such a profound accusation, this "same old style" is a red flag.
A person who is skilled at deception very often exhibits very little vocal variation as well as a limited body language vocabulary. In short - it makes it much easier to deceive with a limit repertoire.
It can't be emphasized enough, that whenever one is assessing for truths or lies, always determine if the vocal qualities, the verbal language and the nonverbal language are congruent. If this triad is in unison then there is a very high probability that you're the beneficiary of honesty. If any one of these is dispirit - take heed. You've been warned.
Lindsey Graham's recent appearance on The Daily Show was both politically informative and hilarious. The South Carolina Senator candidly discusses with Trevor Noah his reasoning for endorsing Ted Cruz over Donald Trump. Yet this interview also serves as a source of examples for a multitude of nonverbal displays - four of which are discussed below.
Just after Senator Graham says, "It tells you everything you need to know about Donald Trump [nervous laughter]", Graham examples a classic Tongue in Cheek display (1:45 - 1:46).
The tongue in cheek nonverbal has several meanings depending on the other body language signals with which it is clustered. Here it signifies the sentiment of "I just won" or "Gotcha".
A few seconds later during 1:51, Graham leaks a Mouth of Fear expression as he says, "I don't dislike Ted ...".
This microexpression of fear betrays the Senator's cognitive/emotional dissonance by his act of endorsing a man who he believes is the lesser of two bad choices. It's profoundly important to note that even though Senator Graham makes this obvious by his words, his body language is also fully congruent.
During 1:53 - 1:54, Graham contracts and elevates his forehead muscles while simultaneous his eyelids are taught and closed as he says, "... Ted and I have a lot of differences ...". Moreover, while his eyelids are closed you will note that his eyes (globes) rapidly roll up and down. This dynamic can be visualized easily through his closed eyelids. This is a highly reliable sign of contempt that is commonly missed or glossed over.
"... and if Donald Trump carries the banner of my party, I think it taints conservatism for generations to come. I think his campaign is opportunistic, race bating, religious bigotry, xenophobia - other than that he'd be a good nominee."
During 2:48 - 2:49, we see Graham leaning his torso quickly sideways to his left and rapidly snap his head laterally as well. This display is a form of the Self-Righteous Head Wiggle. It is made by relatively high alpha personalities during moments of extra-high confidence and can be thought of as one type of nonverbal swagger.
In Portland, Oregon yesterday, a little bird landed on Bernie Sanders' stage and then, while Senator Sanders was talking about it, the bird flew up on his lectern. His supporters went wild and, along with the Democratic candidate, took it as a sign. The little aviator has been dubbed "Birdie Sanders".
This image was taken during 0:08 in the video above.
Note Senator Sanders' eyes. His eyelids are opened extremely. This lasted approximately 1.2 seconds.
This is eyelid configuration and its brevity are highly characteristic of sincere surprise.
Sanders' surprise was quickly supplanted by a sincere smile.
When a smile is sincere (Duchenne Smile) the eyes are always partially closed. Here his eyelids are nearly completely closed.
Although it's difficult to visualize, the lower eyelids also have the additional feature of an evanescent, concave-up furrow. This is another requirement of a sincere smile. What are the other features of a true smile?
In just a few seconds we see two classic and sincere facial expressions - first surprise, and then joy-happiness. When surprise is sincere, it always is very brief (usually just a second or two) and it's always followed immediately by a second sincere emotion (joy-happiness as in this example, anger, fear, disgust, sadness, etc.).
In this video which is currently going viral, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill are being interviewed regarding their just released film, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. This is of course just a segment and highly edited, with Simon and Garfunkel's, The Sound of Silence playing through most of this clip. The YouTube title to this video is, "Batman V Superman - Sad Affleck" - yet this is completely wrong. Ben Affleck is not sad, he is mad. We cannot say specifically what's the cause of this emotion - but it's definitely anger.
This image is from 0:08, just after Affleck says, "I haven't read any reviews".
Affleck is looking somewhat through his interviewer, not at him. His mid-face, particularly his mustache area (tissue between the upper lip and nose) has significant tension. His lower lids also are tensed.
This image was captured at 0:54. Not only does Affleck project anger (thinned lips and mildly flared nostrils) there is also a mild amount of contempt in his face here. Do you see it?
This frame is from the last second of this video (1:08), an instant after Mr. Affleck says, "I agree" (Did you see the quick torque of his head-neck with a prolonged blink as he said this?
Please watch the video to appreciate the dynamic and evanescent nature of this sarcastic head snap).
In this last second Affleck is focusing directly at his interviewer, not though him. The tension in both his mid-face and his lower lids, nostril flaring and thinning of his lips can be clearly seen. He is angry.
It is amazing to think of the percentage of otherwise socially adept people who will completely misidentify subtle to mild, let alone moderate nonverbal signals. Here is a classic example of this phenomenon. If you pressed them, many of those people who misunderstand his facial expression would say the reason he looks sad is because he was looking down and at a distance. While it is true that those who are sad will often look down (and often down to their right), Affleck has no other facial nonverbal signals which may be construed as sadness. Moreover many people, consciously or subconsciously will not look directly at another person's face, in an effort to avoid escalating their own anger.
When Norton asks Affleck if he still tries to change his own voice even though he knows the microphone will modify it - and Affleck confesses that he does this - we see Ben display three rapid Loose Tongue Juts (0:56 - 0:58).
This is an image of the third of three loose tongue juts (aka lizard tongue).
We also see a classic sincere smile (Duchenne Smile) as well as blushing.
Here the loose tongue jut indicates a thought-emotion of "I've been caught" or "I've been bad" (Navarro) together with an element of embarrassment with some self-deprecation.
What is also very telling is this expression of Henry Cavill's (during 1:44.2).
Here it is again a split second later (1:44.4)
This not a suppressed smile - rather it's veiled disgust. Watch the video at normal speed with the sound, then without the sound at 1/2 and 1/4 speed - then watch it again at normal speed once more with full audio. This should make it easier to see. Although
we do not know the exact reason (Does he perhaps feel slighted by Mr. Norton for not paying his Batman voice enough attention?), this is an outstanding example of the
nonverbal truth that even professional actors are not able to hide their true thought-feelings when they are out of character (if you know what to look for).
During Jake Gyllenhaal's recent appearance on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, the accomplished actor told the story of his failed audition for
Lord of the Rings - and Peter Jackson purportedly saying, "You are the worst actor that I've ever seen".
On two occasions in the above video, most prominently at the beginning (0:03 to 0:25), Jake Gyllenhaal displays a false shirt cuff adjustment. This image was captured during 0:06.
Of course the cuff needs no adjustment, yet nonetheless it occurs.
This is one variety of a MAP surrogate (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier) and is a reliable signal of generalized anxiety.
Just after Gyllenhaal discloses it was the part of Frodo for whom he was auditioning, he displays a classic Elevated Central Forehead Contraction (CFC)simultaneous with a partial mouth smile. This nonverbal signals incredulity - yet here it is feigned (and thus conscious), however the subconscious display of his continued false cuff adjustment persists.
Whenever two nonverbal signs are not congruent - and one is consciously initiated while the other is unconscious - it's the UNCONSCIOUS one which always tells the truth.
The moment below is a small segment of Presidents Obama's and Castro's joint press conference yesterday in Havana. The Cuban leader was apparently trying to clarify a particular issue with an aide when Barack called them out for their faux pas. What follows is a partial nonverbal analysis of this interaction.
35:09.2
President Obama's head-neck is in process of Turning to his left
Note his Asymmetric Mouth and slightly thinned lips
This configuration displays both Anger and Contempt.
Surprising to most people is the normal physiology of eyelid closure when the head is turned beyond a certain speed (this can however be consciously suppressed).
35:09.7
Barack's eyes are opened wide - considerably wider than baseline - and here signalling significant anger projected in this moment.
35:10
Slightly less eyelid opening (anger is in decrescendo)
His pointing several times (this was the first) is quite significant as well - What thought-emotions do you think this projects?
35:13
His eyelids are still opened wider than baseline as the President is
Leaning Forward
and Toward (a twisting or torquing of his torso) the Aide and Mr. Castro.
Nonverbally this cluster loudly telegraphs the message, "Excuse me!" just prior him speaking precisely these same words.
35:14
as Mr. Obama verbally says, "Excuse me!"
35:15
Lip Biting
In this instant lip biting indicates a successful attempt at down-regulating his anger.
35:16
Winking - an emblem which here serves to lift President Obama further out of anger and elevates his emotion (as well as the audience's) further.
This nonverbal as well as the lip biting just before are forms of Biofeedback that we all use (the President more skillfully than others) to steer our emotions and avoid extremes.
Today in Havana, at the very end of the joint press conference of Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, the Cuban President lifted the American President's arm up in the air. In nonverbal parlance, this gesture is an example of an emblem. An emblem has a regional, cultural and sometimes (as is this one) a universally recognized meaning - here in an attempt to show unity and solidarity. The vast majority of emblems are performed on a consciousness level and this was no exception.
What grabbed the news headlines however, was Mr. Obama's response - for his hand rapidly dropped down passively. Some have erroneously ascribed Obama here as being "limp wristed" - in attempts to label the American President as weak or feminine. Yet what was transpiring here was a nonverbal manifestation of cognitive and/or emotional dissonance. Despite wanting to - and then eventually opening up relations with Cuba, Obama is not in agreement with Castro on several issues, particularly those of human rights (a topic on which Castro immediately had finished speaking). Thus Obama wants to show openness and cooperation (ergo his sincere smile) - but he does not want to appear as though he agrees with Castro on all matters - or imply that their differences on Human Rights are trivial.
Mr. Obama is reacting to Mr. Castro's body language analog of "forced teaming" (de Becker). Barack feels like he's being manipulated a bit here - thus his uncommitted hand. It's a nonverbal way of saying, "Not so fast Raúl" - as well as letting the rest of the World know the two countries have a ways to go before they're on the same page.
This post and the associated website serve as reference sources for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed here 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.
John Kasich was a guest today on CNN's State of the Union. At 3:40 in the video above, Ms. Dana Bash asks [over-talking], "So just to, just to put a button on this, ah Governor, there are no conversations, you're not interested in any conversations to coordinate with Ted Cruz since there's only three people in the race to try to keep the guy who's got -
Kasich: [over-talking] Look ...
Bash: ... by far the most delegates - Donald Trump, from getting even more?"
This image was captured during 3:51. From 3:48 through 3:52, Kasich
extends his torso backward to his left, moves laterally (back and forth),
as he says, "Look" - and then resumes his more straightened, relatively
still posture.
This (backward) torso extension (with or
without the additional side-to-side movement) is a nonverbal signal
highly indicative of frustration.
At 3:53, before Governor Kasich answers Ms. Bash, we see him display the cluster of: thinned, horizontally configured lips (particularly his upper lip), a clenched jaw, a dimpled chin, protruding lower lip, flared nostrils, lower eyelid tension, tension in mustache area, cheek dimpling - a nonverbal combination which indicates an amalgam of anger, disgust, frustration and impatience.
In summary, John Kasich has a high sincerity quotient (and thus also is believable and likable). Specifically, he has every intention of attending the GOP Convention in July in Cleveland as a candidate. He also believes his chances are relatively good at emerging as the Republican Nominee for President. The Governor however, during this interview, is also displaying relatively high levels of anger, frustration, disgust and impatience.