BBC Journalist, Steve Rosenberg recently asked Russian President Vladimir Putin, "Is Russia behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal?" What follows is a partial analysis of President Putin's nonverbal response.
The above image of Vladimir Putin (from 0:02 in the above video) shows the Russian President with an Elevated Central Forehead Contraction - simultaneous with a partial (mild/subtle) mouth smile.
This is an expression every healthy and psychologically normal person displays (just not very often). It's significant for the emotions of:
• Arrogance (we're all allowed to feel arrogant once in a while, but hopefully not too often)
• Contempt (again, on occasion we all feel contempt, but hopefully it's a rare experience)
• Disbelief (more specifically, a Smug-Disbelief with Impatient-Dismissal)
It's crucial to point out, that the emotions of arrogance, contempt, and disbelief all may be conveyed by other facial configurations.
However, a relatively small fraction of the population (approximately 4%) displays this expression frequently - those individuals with a combination of:
• Low (or nonexistent) Empathy
combined with
• Low Sincerity Quotients (e.g., those individuals who are not necessarily lying IN THAT MOMENT - but they have a strong tendency toward deception
People with low Empathy Quotients combined with low or absent Sincerity - are characteristics common to Sociopaths/Psychopathy (Antisocial Personality Disorder [APD]).
This particular facial expression - an Elevated Central Forehead Contraction with a simultaneous Mild Mouth Smile (often partially suppressed) -WHEN DISPLAYED CHRONICALLY - has an extremely high correlation with Sociopathy/Psychopathy/Antisocial Personality Disorder.
This is one of President Putin's default facial expressions - essentially it's a Living Mask.
A moment later in this same video, President Putin displayed both Disgust and Contempt. This is a remarkably telling moment - for these were his real feelings, which leaked through his mask.
Contempt - displayed above during 0:14
Disgust being displayed during 0:16
A Very similar phenomenon occurs when actors come out of character: Actors were pretending - but once they stop acting, their real emotions are suddenly exposed - and for a brief moment, these released emotions are often hyperbolic (and can't be masked).
When the emotions of Contempt, Disgust, and/or Anger are temporally juxtaposed (as we see here) with the Elevated Central Forehead Contraction/Partial Mouth Smile Expression - a profoundly Dangerous Red Flag has been raised. You're in Danger.
Summary: President Vladimir Putin's CHRONIC display (a living mask) of the specific facial expression of an elevated central forehead contraction with a partial/subtle mouth smile (first image, above) has an extremely high correlation with low (or absent) empathy combined with low (or absent) sincerity (chronic deceptive tendencies) - as well as a very high likelihood of Sociopathy/Psychopathy/Antisocial Personality Disorder.
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See also:
Body Language Analysis No. 4240: Cambridge Analytica's Alexander Nix (Part I)
Body Language Analysis No. 4238: OJ Simpson - The Lost Confession (Continued, Part II)
Body Language Analysis No. 4236: Andrew McCabe, Jeff Sessions, James Comey - and Sincerity
Body Language Analysis No. 4234: Donald Trump's Reaction to Question Regarding Whether He Fired Rex Tillerson because the SOS called him a "Moron"
Body Language and Medical Analysis No. 4221: Why are Donald Trump's Pupils So Large?
Body Language Analysis No. 4205: Chloe Kim, Albert Einstein, and Creativity
Body Language Analysis No. 4197: Donald Trump calls people who didn't clap during his State of the Union address "Un-American" and "Treasonous"
Body Language Analysis No. 4193: Hope Hicks, Sexual Attraction, Armpits, and Elbows
Body Language Analysis No. 4111: Selena Gomez, Francia Raisa, and a Kidney Transplant
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