Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3550: Robert Downey Jr. Auditions Jimmy Fallon - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Robert Downey, Jr. was recently a guest of Jimmy Fallon. In the video above Tony Stark runs a mini audition for his Tonight Show host. While Fallon is much more of a comedian, he certainly can act.

This image captured during 1:33, is Jimmy acting shocked to find a woman alive who he thought was dead.

Although there is some laughter suppression occurring here, this is a pretty fair job of the classic "slack jaw" of emotional shock (wherein the emotional mind is trying to process what the intellect has just discovered). The jaw is only partially opened during emotional shock - although we wouldn't typically see even a trace of exposed teeth. His eyes are opened slightly wider than baseline here as well - with a moderate level of tension in the lower lids and mind-face. Again - this expression is a fairly good job a replicating the emotion cluster of shock-transitioning-to-fear.

However, approximately two seconds earlier, during this moment (1:31) - Jimmy completely missed the expression of surprise.

Specifically Jimmy's eyebrows elevate here - yet his eyelids partially close. During sincere surprise (which is very short-lived and rapidly replaced by another emotion) the eyelids open wide - they NEVER close as we see here.

Of course we know Fallon is acting - yet during feigned surprise (which, if you know what to look for, you'll see every day all around you) it is meant to deceive you - thus it's a form of acting as well (only then we don't want to have our disbelief suspended).

Fallon also misses the mark with his mouth. The mouth of significant surprise (unlike that of emotional shock) is a widely opened one - in the shape of a vertical oval. When the surprise is sincere, it also very characteristically does not display any visible teeth. This is absolutely NOT the face of surprise. 


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3483: Kate Winslet's Reaction to Leonardo DiCaprio's Oscar for Best Actor

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2971: Not Giving Good Actors an Easy Pass - Interstellar Trailer - When the Body Language is Not Congruent with Real Life

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3523: Jaws - "You're Going to Need a Bigger Boat"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3506: Jake Gyllenhaal Bombed His Lord of the Rings Audition 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3162: Robert Downey Jr. walks out of Interview - Star walks out when asked about past

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3163: Robert Downey Jr. Interview Part Deux - Body Language mistakes interviewers and negotiators should never make ...

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2997: Halloween Haunted Houses - Transitioning from Expressions of Surprise to Fear (PHOTOS)


Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise




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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3525: Kristen Bell Slaps a Reporter On "The Boss" Red Carpet (This was a PR Stunt) - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Yesterday Kristen Bell slapped a reporter, Kevin Donnelly, from "The Fix". This occurred on the red carpet for premier of her new film, The Boss. When you watch this video, there should be several body language tells which should make you suspect this was staged.

Most of these clues are committed by the actor playing the alleged reporter Kevin Donnelly. Ms. Bell did a pretty good job acting here (but not perfect). One of her nonverbal acting mistakes is discussed below.

During the 0:15 as the actor playing Kevin Donnelly fake-falls over a barrier, Kristen Bell spins around in what is a less than well acted surprise feign.

A close up of the above moment reveals several signs of insincerity in this Bell's act of surprise.

Although her eyelids are opened wider than base-line, they do not match her mouth opening. If this surprise was real, Kristen's eyelids would be opened more widely.

In addition, although Bell's mouth takes on a relatively vertically-oriented oval - during sincere surprise, when the mouth is opened this widely we would see not teeth.

With significant sincere surprise, teeth are not visible (not even a little bit - with the exceptions of extreme camera/visual angle or dentition abnormalities). In this charade, although it's of poor resolution, the lower aspect of her two top front incisors (maxillary central incisors) can be seen here.

Sincere surprise also has the characteristic of tighter lips. Her lips are loose and relatively uncontracted - despite a relatively widely opened mouth. This nonverbal signal is very telling and if it was the only signal, it alone would reveal this as a faked moment. Of course, clustered together with earlier observations of the edges of her two teeth exposed and her less than full eyelid opening lets us know the truth of Kristen Bell's PR stunt wrapped in a promotion.


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3524: Paddleboarder's Encounter with Spinner Shark

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3512: Emilia Clarke, "Me Before You" and Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2971: Not Giving Good Actors an Easy Pass - Interstellar Trailer - When the Body Language is Not Congruent with Real Life

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3489: Margot Robbie wants Prince Harry

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2997: Halloween Haunted Houses - Transitioning from Expressions of Surprise to Fear 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3511: Ted Cruz Statement Regarding Allegations of Extramarital Affairs - Body Language and Statement Analysis

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3281: Donald Trump on "Meet The Press" - Who Does He Talk to for Military Advice?  

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise (PHOTOS)

Taylor Swift cleaned up last night at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards with eight trophies including "Top Artist". This was no surprise to most - including Swift. The image above was captured earlier this year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. In this moment she is feigning surprise. During sincere surprise the mouth opens significantly more than is seen on Ms. Swift - taking on a vertically-oriented oval appearance. Moreover, the teeth are rarely if ever visible - and NEVER to this degree. In sincere surprise the lips cover the teeth. Here Taylor Swift is indeed faking surprise.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3189: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang & U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry - Body Language - and Contrasts between Obama & Putin

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3097: Buddies at the Grammys? What Does Kanye West REALLY Think of Taylor Swift? Body Language Tells

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2244:  Taylor Swift's Body Language, Botox & Anger on 60 Minutes

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3096: Kanye West's Body Language at the 2015 Grammys

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3151: Barack Obama and Raúl Castro Shake Hands - Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3077: Barack Obama, The 2015 State of the Union Address Part II & What John Boehner Doesn't Believe
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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2951: Miss America 2015 - Sincerity, Surprise and Botox (PHOTOS)

Last night Miss Kira Kazantsev, won the 2015 Miss America. It was the third year in a row that the contestant from New York State was awarded the supreme Tiara.

Many people would doubt the sincerity of this moment and thus also Miss Kazantsev's facial expression - Yet they both are very sincere.



Notice her vertically oval-shaped mouth as well as the fact that no teeth are visible. People who make a faked surprise expression will have a mouth opened with a significantly wider horizontal component. In addition the feigned surprise will always have teeth showing. Even all but the best character actors will still make this mistake.

Her eyelids are also opened very widely along with extremely elevated eyebrows - mirroring the configuration of her mouth. Intriguingly, as all women who wear eye make-up know - it is much easier to open eyes widely if their mouth also adopts a similar morphology.

What are some other nonverbal components of sincere surprise? We should see her forehead contract - it is, however it is very minimally. The reason for this is because she has had Botox injections. The lack of normal and expected contraction of the forehead muscles (and thus dynamic furrows) diminishes the appearance of sincerity.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2950: Daniele Watts, "Django Unchained" Actor gets Mistaken for a Prostitute and Handcuffed and Detained for Kissing her Boyfriend

Nonverbal Communication Quiz-Analysis No. 2936: Tony Stewart's addresses Kevin Ward's Death - Sincere vs. Insincere

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2839: Jonah Hill's Apology on Jimmy Fallon - Sincere or Insincere? 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2459:  Was Eliot Spitzer Sincere?  Apology, Sincerity and Body Language 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2438:  Sincere Surprise Body Language  Three Year Old Receives Brain Stem Implant and  Hears for the First Time

Nonverbal Communication Quiz-Analysis No. 2902: How Sincere was Ray Rice's Apology?

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2508: Anne Frank, Sincere Smiles and Emotional Comfort

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