There are certainly other body language signals for both of these
emotions. Intriguingly though, an eye roll has a much more conscious
component. That is to say, while the vast majority of nonverbal behavior
is subconsciously initiated - the eye roll is significantly consciously driven. It's
openly declaring:
"I am dismissing you/your opinion - and/or I have contempt for you - and I want you to know it."
In the next moment, the German Chancellor suppresses a second eye roll (while fixating her gaze in the mid-distance). This moment provides a fantastic illustration of a phenomenon known as "Leakage" - describing how, when we suppress a nonverbal signal in one area - it readily "Leaks" out in other places.
What do we see during this leakage?
Angela Merkel's jaw clenches - and her lips become thinned. This is significant for anger. In addition, her jaw and lips retract (vectoring backward) along with significant tension in the region above her upper lip and below her nose. This is an expression of partially suppressed disgust. The flaring of her nostrils overlaps into both disgust and anger.
Summary: Angela Merkel has open contempt and dismissal toward Vladimir Putin - and she wants him to know it. She also feels anger and disgust for the Russian President.
What follows is a partial body language analysis of Melania Trump and Donald Trump in an interview with Matt Lauer yesterday morning.
At 0:59 in the above video MATT LAUER continues: One part of that campaign ends in that hall tonight - another part begins. Your wife is going to get to speak to the delegates ...
DONALD TRUMP: Right.
MATT LAUER: About you. Has she gone over the speech with you? Did you practice it on the plane?
MELANIA TRUMP: I read once over it, and that's all - because I wrote it and ah, li- [stutter], with a little help - as possible soooooo ....
MATT LAUER: Are you nervous?
MELANIA TRUMP: No-
MATT LAUER:It would be okay to be nervous.
MELANIA TRUMP: I'm excited.
MATT LAUER: Yeah?
MELANIA TRUMP: Yeah. It's exciting night.
MATT LAUER: What do you want to tell the delegates, Mrs. Trump, about your husband, that they haven't learned in the last year?
MELANIA TRUMP: Well I will tell it in the speech - and, ahhh, he's ah, an amazing -
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah
MATT LAUER: Yeah, she looks good, she's learned a lot from you. That was really good. Go ahead, continue.
MELANIA TRUMP [over-talking]: Soooo, he's an amazing guy, and ah, he really wants to bring ah, America to the next level.
Matt Lauer touching Melania Trump on the arm (during 1:10 as he says, "... practice ...) is an invasion of her personal (intimate space) and is one signal of false affection. It also is highly consistent with narcissism.
Note that on multiple occasions, Lauer refers to Mrs. Trump as if she wasn't there - in the third person:
"... Your wife is going to get to speak to the delegates ..."
"... Had she gone over the speech with you?"
"... Yeah, she looks good ..."
"... she's learned a lot from you ..."
This last example is also particularly patronizing.
Notice too, Lauer interrupts Mrs. Trump on multiple occasions.
Now flash back to the very beginning of Lauer's interview - he's leaning on the back of a seat. While this may appear to be an attempt at being casual - this dynamic is Lauer's baseline behavior of trying to assert dominance when it's out-of-context.
Focusing on Melania, during 1:14, she shrugs her left shoulder and rotates her torso toward Donald as she says, "... that'sall ..."
A shoulder shrug indicates, "I don't care"/"What does it matter?", "I don't know", or "What could I do?/What choice did I have?"
During 1:15 as she says, "... because I wrote it and ...", Melania looks to her right, blinks, and looks slightly down. Looking in this quadrant in right-hand dominant individuals is very often correlated with emotional overtones of sadness, regret and other forms of emotional discomfort. For her to look in this direction (and AWAY from Lauer) the instant she says "... I ...", strongly implies deception.
Just as she says, "... and ah, li- [stutter], with ...", Melania looks down to her left. Gaze in this direction in most right-handed people is very often associated with "internal dialog" (e.g., here deciding how to phrase an answer).
Importantly, Melania is also stuttering and again, she's looking away from Lauer.
Also of profound significance here is Donald Trump's body language. The instant after Melania says, "... because I wrote it ..." - HE TURNS AWAY. Donald Trump knew his wife was lying. Note he keeps his same facial expression - but we see a change manifested elsewhere on his body. This is an excellent example of what in nonverbal parlance is termed "Leakage".
As Melania says, "... with as little help as possible soooooo ....", both the pitch and volume of her voice increase, she leans forward with her head, neck, and torso (a "Neck Stretch"), with a Self-Righteous Head Wiggle display, her eyebrows elevate and her forehead contracts across its entire width and also elevates. In addition, she ends her sentence with the stretched-out word, "... soooooo ...". This nonverbal-verbal-paralanguage cluster is highly consistent with deception. She is emotionally uncomfortable talking about her upcoming speech and wants Lauer to change the subject.
Summary: While this analysis cannot directly discern any intent of plagiarism on her part (or her speech writer's), Melania Trump did lie when she said she had "... as little help as possible ..." writing her speech - and Donald Trump knew she was lying.
Matt Lauer's verbal, nonverbal, and paralanguage behavior are not only rude - these are classic manifestations of narcissism, invasion of personal (intimate) space/false affection, and misogyny.
Politicians are always giving the "Thumbs Up" sign. Richard Nixon did it, Ronald Reagan did it and so did Bill Clinton. Many people will tell you that the thumbs up nonverbal arose out of ancient Rome - the spectators' signal as to whether a gladiator should live or die. However some historians will say this is apocryphal - a re-write of history which had its origins from artwork of the 19th Century (Pollice Verso, 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme). Regardless of its origins, the thumbs up body language gesture has come to mean an enthusiastic statement of the affirmative, proceed with your current action, you're on the correct path and or a simple yes.
Donald Trump probably uses the thumbs-up illustrator more often than most politicians. Regardless of party or country, a phenomenon associated with this gesture is that the facial expression is very often incongruent with the optimism an upward pointing thumb is supposed to be projecting. When the hands are not in agreement with the face - what is the true emotion? Are they both somehow correct? Hmmm.
The thumbs up display is a very conscious nonverbal signal - however the simultaneous facial expression is virtually always subconsciously generated. This is an excellent example of what in body language nomenclature is known as "leakage". A significant amount of mental energy and effort (albeit brief) is dedicated to the action of thinking about and then displaying this hand gesture. In this evanescence of the thumbs-up illustrator, the remainder of the mind's filter has a lower threshold to social norms and acting. Thus everything except the hand/arm becomes a bit more transparent - allowing us to glimpse into the psyche for a second. The facial expression of true emotion "leaks" out - when normally it would be more contained.
These four images of Mr. Trump all show him with his thumb(s) vectored upward - yet they all four have different facial expressions. And his face tells the real story.
Take home point: When there is a disparity between the conscious and the subconscious body language signals - the true emotions are revealed in those nonverbals initiated subconsciously.
In the first image (above) Mr. Trump's facial expression is primarily that of (subtle) anger. What is his secondary emotion?
This second image reveals Mr. Trump at a moment where his face is close to a sincere smile - close, but not quite sincere. What is/are the specific characteristic(s) here which tells us this is not complete sincerity?
In this instant, Donald Trump's thumb is saying yes, but his face (his true emotion) is projecting disgust.
Donald Trump is displaying two emotions here - the more prevalent one is incredulity - while contempt comes in second.
What emotion is often seen when contempt and disbelief coexist?
If a person made this expression often, what other personality tendency would she/he most likely have?
A rarely discussed but highly reliable nonverbal signal is the biting of the inside of one's cheeks - or alternatively, a truncated version of this phenomenon created by a relative and temporary vacuum inside the mouth resulting in the sucking-in of the cheeks. In Super Bowl XLIX, the New England Patriots quarterback was captured in this highly characteristic nonverbal facial display. These body language configurations are strongly correlative with anxiety and a desire to suppress both the outward expression and inward crescendo of nervousness.
Tom Brady did indeed cheat and his nonverbal behavior told us all along.
Roxanne Chalifoux (aka Villanova Piccolo Girl) drew on our national empathy when, despite her Basketball team's March Madness loss - she played her piccolo through her tears. No fear .... Jimmy Fallon and The Roots to the rescue!
Notice Ms. Chalifoux's central forehead - it's contracted and elevated with its peripheral portions relaxed (an elevated-CFC). Her inner (medial) eyebrows are also elevated. Of course we can see the tears - yet this forehead configuration is highly indicative of emotional or physical pain - and only because she is forcing herself to play the piccolo through her tears, does her mouth not also adopt a correspondingly saddened form.
A few days later on with Jimmy Fallon, Ms. Chalifoux is displaying a sincere smile - the components of which include a relaxed (non-contracted) forehead, partially closed eyelids, dynamic concave-up furrows in the lower eyelids and upwardly contracted cheek muscles. All of these ingredients are required in order for the smile to be a sincere one (Duchenne smile).
A little-discussed component of a sincere smile which is extremely subtle but also present here - is a dynamic lowering of the entire width of the eyebrows.
The mouth is not required to be opened in order for the smile to be a sincere one - yet a fully expressed sincere smile does indeed display the teeth - however only the upper ones (exceptions here are when there is a camera angle is looking downwards [or if the observer is relatively taller to afford a similar angle], if the smile was sincere - but through fatigue is losing its vigor, or if the smile is transitioning from or to sincere laughter [sincere laughter may display both upper and lower teeth]).
In this moment, Roxanne Chalifoux has all the facial components of a
sincere smile displayed above - EXCEPT the mouth portion is
suppressed . It's profoundly important to note that this is still a
sincere smile - albeit suppressed.
An interesting
additional corollary is noted here with respect to Ms. Chalifoux's
blushing. There often tends to be a persistence of blushing - or often an in increase - during moments of suppression of mouth smiling. This is a form of what in body language
parlance is termed "leakage" - when attempting to suppress an emotion by
not displaying one nonverbal component (e.g., here the full mouth element of a
smile) - another nonverbal component (e.g. in this example blushing) persists or grows
stronger.
