This image was captured on 4 June 2019, during President Trump's recent visit to the United Kingdom. Here, Donald Trump is seen with his daughter, Ivanka, and others, while touring Winston Churchill's sleeping quarters (a part of the Churchill War Room Museum) located beneath the Treasury building in the Whitehall area of Westminster.
What follows is a nonverbal analysis of this moment.
In this close-up of his face, we can see President Trump's upper and particularly his lower eyelids are tense. His mid-face is dramatically tightened - with his nostrils considerably flared and his 'mustache-area' extremely contracted.
His Jaw is Jutting forward - indicative of an Adrenaline Surge. Simultaneously, his lips are curled inward - covering his teeth with his mouth slightly opened in what is termed, an Inward Lip Roll. An Inward Lip Roll shows an attempt to suppress strong emotions from crescendoing.
In this moment the President's face is projecting considerable anger.
Note the placement of Trump's hands. His thumbs are hooked behind the waist of his pants, gripping his belt. The long-axes of each of his forearms-wrists-hands are directed at his groin. More specifically, his right index finger (the most dominant of all his digits) is also pointing directly at his genital region.
In a very general sense, this body language gesture is an example of a "MAP Surrogate" (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier). More exactly, it's an example of a variation of a Partial Emblematic Slip.
Trump's nonverbal behavior in this moment is dramatic and profoundly out of context. It's a Hyper-Alpha Sexual Display wherein Donald Trump is attempting to project an amalgam of his perceived virility and sexual dominance - along with his anger and sexual aggression.
Moreover, and of profound importance, at no time should sexual expression/sexual projection be accompanied by anger. It's never remotely healthy when these two emotions overlap.
Ivanka's head and neck are bowed. Her shoulders are slumped while her eyes are looking down - fixed and staring - primarily center-down, but slightly to her right. This is the direction of gaze associated with guilt, shame, regret, and sadness. She is caught off-guard and emotionally distressed.
Ivanka is whole-body pointing toward her father. Ivanka's hands are in a Fig-Leaf configuration (also known as Genital Guarding). In this context, this is a deeply-Beta, low-confidence, deferential posture with strong overtones for protection.
Summary: The nonverbal behavior captured in this photograph reflects the stark contrast between the two Trumps' thought-emotions.
Donald is Hyper-Alpha - but Ivanka is deeply beta. Donald is pointing
at his genitals - while Ivanka is protecting hers. Donald is projecting
sexual aggressiveness and anger - yet Ivanka is feeling submissive,
shame, and sadness.
On Monday 12 November 2018, GE's CEO, Larry Culp gave an interview on CNBC. What follows is a partial nonverbal analysis of that exchange and some recommendations and ideas I would propose if he were one of my private clients.
In a business setting, with rare exception, a man should always wear a navy or black suit. Even light grey suits should be avoided, let alone plaid, or beige. Only navy and black suits command the highest authority, rapport, and influence. Mr. Culp should also opt for a solid-colored shirt (white or blue) with a tie. For the fashion-forward, this may seem very vanilla - but in a professional setting, this conservative color-scheme is important and proven.
Culp is the CEO of a cutting-edge corporation and his appearance - including his haircut should reflect a forward-looking fashion. No one expects him to be a model, but with respect to fashion, Culp's hairstyle is 1970esque.
Throughout this whole interview, Larry Culp's voice cracks and is a bit gravelly. Along with his dry throat caused by anxiety, he also displays a multitude of very noticeable hard-swallows. These are often associated with Culp stuttering and stammering.
In addition, Mr. Culp often performs a lip/tongue-smacking maneuver associated with his hard-swallowing/stuttering-stammering. These have a tic-like quality.
This cluster of hard-swallowing, gravelly voice, stutterings-stammerings behaviors is secondary to his high level of anxiety - a pattern quite prominent in both amplitude and frequency. It's a real red flag. Any layperson or shareholder would look at this pattern/characteristic alone and correctly interpret that this is a nervous man who's bit off more than he can chew.
Another noteworthy pattern throughout the interview is that Larry Culp's verbal responses seemed as if he was responding as a politician. He should have initially answered definitively - following up with an explanation. Instead, Mr. Culp, like a lot of people with lower confidence, less experience, and/or who are relatively educated/cerebral - does not give a decisive answer, but rather, first delves into a more lengthy explanation. Responding to questions in this manner tends to lose listeners and importantly - makes Culp look weak, wishy-washy, and sometimes dishonest. In contrast, I would highly recommend he respond with, "Yes, and here's why ..." or "No, but let me elaborate on that ...", or "That's not completely clear, but here's what we're going to do ..."
Many times, the GE CEO responded to questions in a manner which seemed to deliberately set a low bar, indicating his diminished confidence and feelings of instability. Taken alone, this sends signals of strong pessimism and trepidation - and thus, it's no surprise that shareholders responded with a sell-off. (e.g., "This is a challenge of a lifetime given where we find the company today" [When asked why he took the job as CEO], "Well, we have to prove that out" [in response to the question, "Can you attract the people you need to?"], "We are working very hard with the power team to get a better grounding in our reality" [A non-answer answer], "Very much, a sense of urgency David" [in response to, "Are you going to quicken the pace of asset sales at this point? Is there a sense of urgency?"], etc.).
You may have noticed the way Larry Culp was sitting. Captain chairs - particularly a design which are narrower as these appear to be are not recommended. While having armrests on chairs is important for the person being interviewed - if the chair is too narrow and especially if the armrests are relatively high - it forces the arms in an awkward configuration - causing the elbows/forearms to rest to high. This, in turn, causes the shoulders to hunch and upper back/neck to tighten - leading to increased anxiety and a substantially more beta appearance. Mr. Culp should exert more control of the interview process. Surprisingly, although this was conducted in GE's office (home field advantage is always wise and should be prioritized), the interview set design was less suboptimal. Culp should instead use a chair which is a bit wider and with lower armrests.
Mr. Culp should sit forward on the chair a few inches - such that his back and his buttocks are not touching the back of the chair. A slight forward lean with one's back - nothing dramatic, perhaps 10º - 15º is recommended. When we're fully engaged and enthusiastic in a conversation (or film) - and if we want to build influence and rapport - we should lean and position ourselves slightly forward in the chair.
President Obama, while overall very adept with his nonverbal skills - also sat too far back in chairs and in addition, he often distanced himself further by crossing his legs in a European-style. This configuration is one reason why some of his critics thought him aloof.
If a man sits with his legs (thighs) spread very widely, this is colloquially referred to as "Manspreading" (technically termed "Seated Crotch Display" - à la Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin).
(Note how Viktor Yanukovych and his legs are acquiescing while and Vladimir Putin shows him who holds the power)
The manspreading hyper-alpha seating style is offensive - and an approach that's certainly not recommended. Mr. Culp, however, goes a bit too far in the opposite direction, for his upper legs (thighs) are configured in a relatively beta manner - parallel and facing directly forward (and perhaps even slightly knock-kneed), rather than spreading moderately (e.g. ~ 25º - 30º). Sitting further back in the chair (particularly with the chair design seen here) prevents this approach - while forward sitting with moderate leg-spreading will up-regulate Culp's psyche and make him feel (and appear) more alpha, powerful, assertive, and confident. Intriguingly, it will also engender a greater fluidity to his speech.
This is a hand position which should be avoided but is engendered by keeping the elbows resting on the armrests one's chair. It projects feelings of a hidden agenda (and conjures up images of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons).
Charles Montgomery Burns ("Mr. Burns", who, coincidentally, is the owner of a Nuclear Power Plant).
While interviewers are used to the relatively close proximity one typically sits when conducting such interviews, most interviewees are not. This often makes them feel uncomfortable - as sometimes the interviewer encroaches into the interviewee's personal space. Thus, to partially alleviate this effect, the small table to the side of Culp's right leg should be removed from the set.
Matt Lauer used to routinely cross his legs in a European-style and he would often touch his foot against the interviewee as an intimidation tactic. Among other things, this is a strong signal of narcissism.
Notice too, Mr. Culp's foot and leg placement. With one leg/foot forward, and the other positioned a bit backward - it causes increased anxiety and lower confidence during an interview. Moreover, shareholders and the average onlooker will sense the lower confidence of a person seated this way. Depending on what the rest of the body is doing, this telegraphs the impression that a person wants to leave (like a date who is anxious to depart) - which is true with respect to this interview. The audience may also subconsciously take it as a sign of an ominous corporate forecast. He should have both feet flat on the floor, with equal forward positioning.
Larry Culp should also slow down the pace of his speech. In doing so, he would better control the tempo of the interview. By answering quickly, he displayed anxiety and his diminished confidence (this also has a feedback effect of decreasing his confidence even further). Speaking more slowly would also lower the tone of his voice slightly, which would serve to up-regulate his alpha qualities (internally, with his own psyche - as well as from the point of view of onlookers).
David Faber in the midst of a pen-surrogate-finger-point-hand-chop
Larry Culp's staff should have asked in advance who was going to interview him and then reviewed his idiosyncrasies and prepared Larry accordingly. David Faber (Culp's interviewer here), has the habit of holding a pen in his right hand and gesturing forward with it - in what is known as a surrogate-finger-point-hand-chop. This hyper-alpha dynamic is aggressive and intimidating. Unfortunately, there are a few news personalities for whom this as a staple of their interviewing style - despite it being a universally offensive gesture (slightly better than an index-finger-point-hand-chop [when no pen/pencil is used]). Culp's assistant should have performed their prep work and, a few days prior, asked Mr. Faber not to use this gesture (and with a friendly reminder just prior to the interview).
Beginning at 13:16 in the video, Mr. Faber asks Mr. Culp, "Are you hampered at all in the marketplace by a deteriorating credit rating and by perhaps the longer-term concerns of some of those customers?" During this question, particularly the last portion, Culp is nodding up-and-down (in the affirmative). This body language is completely disparate from his verbal answer. Whenever the verbal and the nonverbal responses contradict each other - it's the nonverbal display which is telling the truth. Thus, Culp's verbal response here is misleading at best, and with high-likelihood, indicative of deception (Please watch the video, as the dynamic nature of this gesture cannot be captured in a single image).
Mr. Culp should avoid the use of the word "folks" - this is both a dated and Americanized colloquial.
Larry Culp dramatically over-uses the word "frankly" in this interview. This is a term he should eliminate from his vocabulary. Its use is a red flag, for very often it signals a lack of full disclosure and an attempt at manipulation. Most people associate its use with dishonesty and a patronizing tone.
Culp repeatedly smiles out-of-context - this example occurring during 15:07 - just as he says "Nobody's happy" ("... Nobody's happy with, with [stutter] where we are today ..."). As this nonverbal display contradicts his verbal language, people will accurately interpret it as insincere and view Culp with suspicions.
In this moment, captured during 14:14, we can see Culp blushing. This occurs as Faber remarks that in the past, the conglomerate model of GE was viewed as a positive quality - but it now appears to be "going the other way". Culp's smile in this instant is sincere - and his accompanying blushing (a sincerity amplifier) in this context connotes true embarrassment.
Another interesting moment was displayed at the 3:00 mark as Culp's right eyebrow elevates as he says "through asset sales" ( "... we need to bring the leverage down and I think we've got plenty of opportunities through asset sales ...). This unilateral eyebrow/forehead elevation (assuming the entire forehead is fully functional, e.g., no Bell's palsy, no asymmetrically applied Botox, etc.) is indicative of doubt. (Ergo, Larry Culp does not truly believe that asset sales will sufficiently lower GE's leverage).
Larry Culp displays a multitude of unilateral eyebrow elevations while answering Faber's questions. Even a person with no body language training will easily and subconsciously interpret this as a person who is doubting their own words.
A split-second later (still during 3:00), Culp's left eyebrow and forehead twitches. This microexpression - conveys an additional level of doubt.
Immediately after this Culp displays a Hard-Swallow (one of many he commits during this interview) and smacks his lips. This is evidence of his dry mouth and throat - consistent with his elevated anxiety.
Another second later (during 3:01), we see Culp display a Loose Tongue Jut - indicating the thought-emotion of "I've been bad", "I've just done a stupid thing", and/or "I've been caught". Although most people would not notice this signal or interpret it accurately, it's highly consistent with Culp disbelieving his own statement.
SUMMARY: Larry Culp's nonverbal, verbal, and paralanguage (vocal qualities, cadence, rhythm, pitch, etc.) behavior during this interview indicates that his confidence level is low and he has a significantly heightened level of anxiety. He doubts a significant number of his own answers during this exchange. Mr. Culp's emotions are not simply being felt within the context of this televised interview, but also toward GE's prognosis in the near and mid-future.
With very high probability, Larry Culp's low confidence and
anxiety clearly displayed during this interview led to GE's stock
sell-off.
Larry Culp is not Tony Hayward - and GE's stock sell-off is not BP's Gulf Oil Spill. Yet
Culp and Hayward would both have been well-served by ongoing media training. Such preparation
is an integral component of the communication and PR skills needed to run a fortune 500 company - and a comprehensive approach to crisis
management.
There's a high probability that Larry Culp's tenure at GE will last less than two years.
Yesterday, after the closest Senate vote in 137 years, Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court. Ashley Kavanaugh's body language during her husband's swearing-in ceremony is worthy of scrutiny.
Note in the above image, as retired Justice Anthony Kennedy administers the Judicial Oath to Brett Kavanaugh, Ashley Kavanaugh is standing with her left leg crossed in front of her right leg. This nonverbal display indicates a lowered confidence level and a beta emotional tone. Along with projecting her low emotional comfort, it very much says that although social and political etiquette requires her presence, she very much wants to leave.
These submissive feelings are further amplified by the orientation of Ms. Kavanaugh's feet. For although we can't completely visualize them, we can easily discern that they're pointed inward (temporarily in-toed aka pigeon-toed) - projecting even lower confidence and the need for protection. This behavior is a fig-leaf analog.
One might be tempted to attribute Ashley Kavanaugh's leg and foot
positions to a chance moment in time - which would be erroneous
(particularly in this context). However, if we examine this second
image, when Chief Justice John Roberts is administering the
Constitutional Oath, although we can only see a portion of her legs,
she's clearly standing in the same configuration.
SUMMARY: Ashley Kavanaugh's body language during each
of her husband's Oaths yesterday indicates she was feeling lowered
confidence and diminished emotional comfort. Although protocol required
her presence, she very much did not want to be there.
There are many nonverbal signs indicating relative levels of confidence. During last week's hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford exhibited contrasting examples of one such signal.
When a person raises their right hand to be sworn-in before testifying, if their fingers and/or thumb are spread apart - it signals low levels of confidence. Conversely, when a person's fingers are held close together during the swearing-in process, their confidence is high.
While a person who may be planning to be deceptive during a testimony, may have high confidence, such a scenario is atypical. It's much more likely that a person who is planning to be deceptive would be experiencing low confidence. This is true for both alpha and beta personalities - and regardless of one's social status.
SUMMARY: During last week's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Christine Blasey Ford's body language conveyed high levels of confidence, while Brett Kavanaugh projected low confidence levels.
While no single body language signal always indicates deception, the fact that Kavanaugh is an attorney and a judge - and, therefore, should be aware of such judicial nonverbal nuance, dramatically underscores his behavior and suggests his intention to deceive. Moreover, Dr. Ford's nonverbal display strongly suggests her intention toward truthfulness.
On Thursday 28 June 2018, Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Jordan immediately began with, "Mr. Rosenstein, why are keeping information from Congress?"
Very often, when a person is feigning - and they don't believe in/don't
have confidence in what they're saying - they default to over-acting.
They shout. They speak hyperbolically. They talk quickly. They refer to
themselves in the third person. Their anger is disproportional to the
social context. Such behavior is over-compensatory and the psyche's
attempt at covering up for their deception.
During a portion of his questioning, Representative Jordan spoke leaning on his desk, his shoulders rounded and rolled forward, his left elbow on his desk, with his jaw resting on the palm of his left hand. While he spoke, his flexed fourth and fifth fingers were covering the left portion of his mouth.
This nonverbal cluster is highly beta. Most notably, speaking with one's hand over any portion of the mouth, even for a moment, is a red flag. Representative Jordan does so for extended periods. Moreover, it indicates Mr. Jordan has low confidence in, significant hesitancy, and does not believe a significant portion of what he's saying.
SUMMARY: Representative Jordan is over-acting. His verbal language, paralanguage, and nonverbal behavior indicate he does not believe his own words.
In the light of Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy's announcement of his retirement from the Supreme Court, the interview included here is profoundly important. In March 2016, Chris Matthews spoke with then-candidate Trump in a town hall type setting. One of the questions Mr. Matthews pressed Mr. Trump on was that of abortion - and specifically, because Trump believes abortions should be illegal - what was his view on the issue of punishment for women who undergo abortions?
In this image (captured from the above video during 2:16) - when Mr. Trump was attempting to formulate his response to Chris Matthews' question of, "... Do you believe in punishment for abortion - yes or no - as a principle?".
Donald Trump commonly displays several nonverbal signals which are
distinctly beta (and feminine). One of these is exampled here. This
display is much more commonly seen with women and gay men - but when
it's displayed by a straight man, it projects a
low-confidence/unsure/beta emotional tone.
Note the position of Trump's right wrist. It's extended (bent backward) close to its maximum. When a straight man displays this body language, it sends signals of low confidence. Moreover, when coupled with an upper arm that's positioned very closely to the torso (as we also see Trump doing), this nonverbal behavior cluster transmits even deeper beta and unsure emotions.
Notice also, Trump's eyes are looking up - fixated in the distance (middle-distance). This is a common direction of gaze and focus behavior associated with the formulation of an answer.
Then, just a couple of seconds later (2:18 - 2:20), once Trump makes up his mind ("... there has to be some form of punishment - Yeah. There has to be some form."), he first positions his hand in a vertically straight, ready-to-chop fashion, and then proceeds to quickly chop his hand in a very assertive (even hyper-assertive), decisive, alpha manner. Trump commonly uses this gesture - however, it's not typically temporally juxtaposed with a hyper-beta display as he does here.
SUMMARY: Donald Trump had not thought through this question prior to Chris Matthews asking it. The candidate's nonverbal behavior displayed here - a low confidence signal followed rapidly by a high-confidence signal - is a window into the unsure mind of a person formulating his decision in that moment. We are seeing cognitive dissonance followed by a decision and absolutism.Upon deciding, Mr. Trump rapidly emotionally morphs into the bravado of hyper-confidence.
Moreover, in this particular context, his hand-chop also projects the additional visual metaphor of severe punishment for abortion.
This is the traditional group photo (also sometimes referred to as "The Family Photo") taken on Friday at the G7 Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada. From left to right are European Council President Donald Tusk, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
The width of a man's stance (the width his feet are apart) in relation to his height is a good indicator of his relative confidence in that moment. This nonverbal sign is not, however, a reliable nonverbal indicator of a woman's confidence level.
Justin Trudeau is the tallest person in the 2018 G8 group photo at 6'2" (1.880
meters). Because he's also the host country's leader, Trudeau is standing in
the center of nine people. The shortest male in the photo is Giuseppe Conte at 5'7"
(1.702 meters) - while Angela Merkel is the shortest overall at 5'5"
(1.651 meters). Donald Trump's height is 6'0.5" (1.842 meters).
President Trump is standing with his feet closer together than any of the other six men - with the possible exception of Giuseppe Conte. Relative to the leaders' heights, however, the American president's feet are the closest together of any of the men - betraying his relatively low confidence (again, this is not a reliable indicator with women). In contrast, Prime Minister Trudeau's foot-plant-to-height ratio is the greatest of the group - projecting his alpha, high-confidence mindset.
Millennia ago, military generals realized that by requiring their enlisted men to stand "at attention" - with their feet close together - they were much more likely to take orders and subordinate themselves. They intuitively knew that certain body postures engendered strength and initiative - while others made their soldiers feel acquiescent and beta.
Now, look also at the direction of each leaders' feet. Trump is the only person in this photo whose feet are not pointed entirely straight ahead - with his left foot splaying outward. This betrays his break of solidarity with - and low level of commitment to the other G7 leaders.
Observe the five men, who at the time of this image, are waving with their hands' up. Trump's hand is lower than the others - below his shoulder - while Trudeau's, Macron's, Abe's, and Conte's hands are all considerably higher - above their shoulders' to their head level. In this context, the relative height of their hands' is also a good indicator of their relative confidence and emotional comfort levels.
SUMMARY: Given that the Trump-led United States is on the brink of a trade war with Canada, Mexico, and the EU - the U.S. President's breaking with the Paris Climate Accord last year - and, only a few hours earlier, Trump calling for Russia to be reinstated in the G7 (thereby remaking the G8) - and the significant push-back he's receiving on these issues from the other G7 leaders - it's not surprising, that despite some of his outward/surface behavior - the American President lacks significant confidence and is emotionally uncomfortable around these other World leaders
On Friday 1 June 2018, Donald Trump met with former North Korean spy chief Kim Yong-chol in the Oval Office for about 90 minutes. What follows is a partial nonverbal analysis of the President - with a focus on one particular tell.
DONALD TRUMP (beginning at 0:00): We'll be, ah - meeting on June twelfth in Singapore - went very well - it's really 'getting to know you' kind of a - situation. Ah, Mike has spent two days, ah, doing this. We've gotten to know their people very well and we will - you people are going to have to travel, because you'll be in Singapore 'n June twelfth. Ah - and I'll think it will be a process. It's not - I d't-, I never said it goes in one meeting - I think it's going to be a process. But the relationships are building and that's a very positive thing.
During, 0:29, as he says, "... relationships ...", he moves his right hand/arm gesturing using two rapid cyclical rotations - while advancing his hand anterior-laterally with his palm is facing in (toward his torso). Crucially, during this dynamic, his index finger is flexed (retracted) - but the other digits are extended.
This gesture is but one of many examples of what are known
as alpha-beta hybrids. Alpha-beta hybrids are not pure alpha, nor pure
beta - but somewhere in between. In general, the use of alpha-beta
hybrids is wise. Politicians certainly don't use them anywhere near as
often as they should - rather they tend to default to alpha and
hyper-alpha nonverbal behavior (which, although solidifies their base
- these will alienate swing/independent voters).
While this particular gesture - with the index finger retracted and all the other digits extended - is not idiosyncratic to Trump, it's relatively rare in the general population. And although it IS an alpha-beta hybrid, this illustrator lives toward the beta end of that Goldilocks zone.
Because the forefinger (index finger) is the most alpha/most powerful of all the
digits, this non-usage gesture is known as the Forefinger Retraction, Forefinger Flexing, or Fearful Forefinger.
Thus, in a very literal way, this dynamic is the exact opposite an extremely Hyper-Alpha gesture - Forefinger Pointing - (where the forefinger [index finger] is extended, and all the other digits are retracted).
SUMMARY: When we observe his Fearful Forefinger Retraction in dynamic context - it unequivocally tells us that the President is having a momentary downturn of his confidence. Its presence projects a hesitancy to commit/not wanting to engage. Moreover, as its name suggests, there's also a component of fear present.
