Monday, January 22, 2018

Body Language Analysis No. 4183: Aly Raisman, Larry Nassar, and USA Gymnastics - Nonverbal and Emotional Intelligence (VIDEO, PHOTOS)





Aly Raisman, a three-time Olympic Gold medalist, addressed Larry Nassar in court last Friday. Nassar was the U.S.A. Gymnastics team physician and has abused hundreds of girls. Thus far, he's been sentenced to 60 years in prison. In addition, Ms. Raisman also leveled criticism at the organization, U.S.A. Gymnastics.

Throughout her statement, Aly Raisman, quite understandably, displayed many examples of contempt, disgust, and anger - and yet the vast majority of these were subtle to mild examples. A profoundly important nonverbal axiom is that, when a person reads a quote, speech, - or in Ms. Raisman's case, a prepared statement - the act of reading (rather than speaking from one's heart - without a script) tends to water-down the accompanying nonverbal displays. They ARE indeed present - but they're just diluted.



























One specific nonverbal example display in her statement which was still readily visible was a "Tight Tongue Jut". This is well exemplified during 8:15 - 8:17 (connoted by Ω symbol) just after Aly Raisman says (beginning at 7:58), "Yesterday, USA Gymnastics announced that it was terminating its lease at 'The Ranch' where so many of us were abused. I am glad that it is no longer a national team training site, but USA Gymnastics neglected to mention that they had athletes training there the day they released the statement Ω ... "

A tight tongue jut conveys the thought-emotions of:

• Disdain
• Disgust
• Repulsion

It's helpful to think of the tight tongue jut as, momentarily, the same configuration and emotions as an infant who's rejecting a spoonful of creamed asparagus.




This second image, captured a split second earlier than the first, shows both the early stages of the tight tongue just - along with the clustered hand gesture (Illustrator) of a rhetorical palms-up gesture - nonverbally asking the question of "WTF?"

Summary: Reading a speech, prepared statement, script, etc., - rather than speaking extemporaneously/in an ad lib manner - has the effect of dampening nonverbal displays. While Ms. Raisman does exhibit disgust, disdain, contempt, and repulsion for Larry Nassar - much of her body language is attenuated in the act of reading her statement. For this reason, in some scenarios, it would be wise to consider using bullet points guide us - which allows us to speak in an unscripted, heartfelt, and knowledgeable manner.


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See also:

Body Language Analysis No. 4182: North, South Korea, and the Olympics

Body Language Analysis No. 4180: White House Press Briefing Re: President Trump's Physical - Dr. Ronny Jackson

Body Language Analysis No. 4178: Donald Trump, "I'm the Least Racist Person", DACA ... and Kevin McCarthy's Anxiety

Body Language Analysis No. 4176: Donald Trump's "Shit Countries" Comment, Emmanuel Mensah, and Alisyn Camerota

Body Language Analysis No. 4167: Gary Oldman, Hugh Jackman, and Compliments

Body Language Analysis No. 4162: Is Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Going to Run for President in 2020?

Body Language Analysis No. 4143: Billy Bush regarding Donald Trump on the "Access Hollywood Tape" (Stephen Colbert Interview)

Body Language Analysis No. 4130: Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King regarding Charlie Rose

Body Language Analysis No. 4058: Cara Mund, Miss America 2018


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