On Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, Kellyanne Conway made a sales pitch for Ivanka Trump from the White House briefing room. Among other things she said, “Go buy Ivanka’s stuff is what I would say," as well as, "I’m going to give a free commercial here: Go buy it today, everybody - you can find it online."
At multiple times during this interview, the senior counselor to Donald Trump displayed what is termed a "Self-Righteous Head Wiggle". This is well exemplified as Ms. Conway says (beginning at 0:47 in the video above), "... I do find it ironic, that you've got some executives - all over the internet - bragging about what they've done to her and her line - and yet, yet they're using - the most prominent woman in, in ah, in Donald Trump's ah, you know, most prominent, it's her - she's his daughter ..."
As the name suggests, a self-righteous head wiggle (SRHW) - is a movement of the head and neck from side to side with a moderately high frequency (although it may involve the jaw or even the torso). Some body language novices will often confuse this with multiple common "no" illustrators of side-to-side head shaking.
Those who display a SRHW are relative alpha personalities (or believe they're relative alphas in that moment) compared to those with whom they're interacting. Although it's usually seen in conjunction with verbal communication, a SRHW display can occur as a purely isolated nonverbal behavior. The SRHW is displayed during times of particularly higher confidence levels during moments when strong opinions are being expressed. It's not uncommon for others to describe an overt smugness being projected. It's useful to think of less dramatic examples of a SRHW as a type of nonverbal swagger or - while more more pronounced displays are arrogance tells.
It's fascinating to note that the frequency, pitch and volume of the spoken words often increase during or just before displaying the self-righteous head/torso/jaw wiggle.
Moreover, a forward motion vectoring (in addition to the primary side-to-side movement) is often superimposed (as is seen in this example as Ms. Conway says, "... bragging ..."). This second motion dynamic is often seen when there is a component of scolding or reprimanding (and indeed here, this is the case). There is also a jaw jut occurring at this same moment - as a signal of anger.
In distinction, when a backward vectoring motion is seen (once again, superimposed upon the side-to-side movement, as occurs in this video when Conway says, "... the most prominent woman ..."), it's an indication of simultaneous feelings of incredulity or the emotion of disgust.
See also:
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3843: 84 Lumber Super Bowl Ad - "The Entire Journey"
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3841: Tom Brady's and Roger Goodell's Handshake after Super Bowl LI
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3839: Andrew Garfield, Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling - Embarrassment, Protection, Body Language and Emotional Intelligence
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3243: Bryan Cranston's Body Language at the 2015 Comic-Con
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3819: Turkey's Parliament, Presidential Powers and Constitutional Amendments
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3794: Racist Rant at Jefferson Mall in Louisville
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3768: Cuban Leader Fidel Castro Dies
Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3826: Kellyanne Conway to Chuck Todd, Press Secretary Sean Spicer Gave 'Alternative Facts'
_____________________________________________________________________________________