One reason why Donald Trump is a more convincing liar than many politicians is that he touches his face (or anywhere on his head or neck) with much less frequency than do most people. It's important to stress that facial touching does NOT equate to lying. Taken in isolation, facial touching is a general indicator of anxiety. Yet when certain parts of the face are touched (do you know which?) - AND when these actions are clustered with particular paralanguage behavior, statement analysis patterns and other nonverbal signals - this can be an excellent indicator of deception. All human beings lie - and it's crucial to note that those who DON'T touch their face often - will still deceive - but they've learned to suppress this set of significant body language tells. But there is another explanation ...
A lesser known but profoundly important nonverbal phenomenon is that those who touch the face less during other times - particularly while watching, listening or reading stories of another person's emotional or physical suffering - even if it's fiction - have significantly lower empathy. Those with less empathy will, of course, not feel nearly the anxiety when they lie - and less anxiety equates to less facial touching.
This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. 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.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3552: Hillary Clinton, Body Language and variations on the Pistol Steeple
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3549: Speaker Paul Ryan's interview with Jake Tapper - "I'm just not ready" to Support Donald Trump
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3547: Kate Middleton on Cover of Vogue's 100th Anniversary Issue
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3545: Eric Trump's Reaction to President Obama's Comments at the 2016 White House Correspondents' Dinner
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3529: Vladimir Putin's Alpha Body Language - Correlations between the Hands and the Face
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3516: Hillary Clinton, Finger Pointing, Fossil Fuels, Bernie Sanders and Lying
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3501: Salah Abdeslam of Paris Attacks is Captured - Body Language Traits Shared by Terrorists
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3509: Bernie Sanders meets Birdie Sanders
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