There are many variations of fake/feigned/social ‘smiles’. Vivek Ramaswamy frequently displays one of these in particularly telling.
During the above interview with Mehdi Hasan last week, Ramaswamy displayed this false and deceptive ‘smile’ multiple times. Note the above image, displaying an example captured during the 20:06 time maker in the following video:
Ramaswamy's bottom teeth are showing. When a sincere smile is being displayed, the lower teeth are almost always never visible. There are some exceptions however.
Bottom teeth may be visible during sincere smiles if:
• Crescendoing to or Decrescendoing from sincere laughter
• You're taller than the other person (physical downward angle)
• Elevated camera angle (looking downward)
• The person is flexing/tilting their head/neck forward
• They have dental or jaw abnormalities
Vivek Ramaswamy is not laughing, nor is this suppressed laughter. However, this assumption does fool a lot of people and it's the core reason why this manipulative behavior often works.
The camera angle is also level with his central face. Nor does Ramaswamy have any dental or jaw abnormalities.
Vivek Ramaswamy is also tilting his head/neck backward, not forward. Tilting one's head backward makes teeth even less visible — and this speaks to the extreme degree of the falseness of this expression.
Vivek Ramaswamy frequently tilts his head backward while listening or speaking. With the exception of a neck injury/problem or relatively rare ophthalmic abnormalities, this configuration indicates arrogance and condescending emotional tones.
Vivek Ramaswamy also juts his jaw forward — during his speech (when he's being particularly forceful in his opinion — which is often, and a sign of an adrenaline surge) — but also during these feigned smiles.
During sincere smiling (or sincere laughing) the jaw moves in the *opposite direction* — it retracts backward, rather than projecting forward. Ramaswamy's jaw configuration is completely incongruent with sincere smiling (or any feelings of joy-happiness).
SUMMARY: This feigned smile of Vivek Ramaswamy is one of his common default expressions. But he's faking it. This is not a sincere smile. When we see this type displayed frequently, it's strongly correlated with manipulative individuals.
All individuals, businesses, and organizations who want to (need to) dramatically improve their Body Language skills and nuance their understanding of Emotional Intelligence, please email me at: Jack@BodyLanguageSuccess.com
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This post and others accompanying it, serve as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts.
There are many signals of deception and manipulation — and in the vast majority of scenarios, these should not be interpreted in isolation.
It’s profoundly important to differentiate a person who is lying or manipulative *in this moment* vs. a person who *chronically* lies or manipulates (that is, it’s one of their fundamental underlying personality characteristics).
The most common signal of a person who is a chronic liar (aka a person who is chronically insincere), is an overuse of their forehead muscles, specifically an upward (not downward) contraction of their forehead.
Moreover, either the entire width of the forehead (with both entire eyebrows) — or the central forehead (with the central portion of each eyebrow) elevating is the specific pattern to look for when sussing out chronic dishonesty and manipulative personalities.
Of course, there are many honest reasons for a person to elevate their forehead such as honest surprise, deep emotional processing, fear, bewilderment, honest emphasis, self-deprecating emotions, playfulness, etc.
These honest reasons are in profound distinction, however, to a person who elevates their forehead out-of-context or too frequently.
Another important distinction is when the forehead is contracted only on one side — which also does not apply in this specific chronic dishonest and manipulative nonverbal behavior/tell.
SUMMARY: The most common signal of a Manipulative personality as well as a Chronic Liar is the overuse of an upward-contracted forehead. Take care to avoid these individuals — they will make your life miserable (or worse).
All individuals, businesses, or organizations who want to (need to) dramatically improve their#BodyLanguageskills (via group or individual instruction) — and all professionals who want to nuance their understanding of#EmotionalIntelligence, please DM or email me atJack@BodyLanguageSuccess.com
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This post and others accompanying it, serve as a reference source for the art and science of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the author. In an effort to be both practical and academic, many examples from/of varied cultures, politicians, professional athletes, legal cases, public figures, etc., are cited in order to teach and illustrate both the interpretation of others’ body language as well as the projection of one’s own nonverbal skills in many different contexts.
Forefinger finger (Index finger) pointing is offensive in all countries and across all ethnicities. Such practice should be highly discouraged in all but the rarest circumstances.
Whenever a politician is choosing a journalist for a question, too often they will point with their index finger. But, alternatively, and far superior to forefinger pointing, would be using all the four fingers and the thumb, with one's palm facing upward, the arm partially extended - such that the wrist, elbow, shoulders - and finger joints are all relaxed. Pointing in this palms-up fashion is rapport building, while index finger pointing is rapport destroying.
But most of President Trump's pointing fits entirely into another type of behavior.
Does it raise your flag when a person - who doesn't know you very well - uses words such as: "We", "Our", "Us", "Let's", etc.? It should. This fits into a type of behavior known as "Forced Teaming" (de Becker) and it's a common technique of manipulative individuals. In scenarios which are out of context to mutual familiarity and/or agreement, such verbal forced teaming is an attempt at making you feel as if you belong to the same clan, team, etc. If you're part of any group/belief system, then you'll be significantly more likely to follow established rules/orders - and much more apt to be manipulated.
If you know what to look for, you'll also spot concomitant paralanguage and nonverbal forced teaming analogs.
Donald Trump frequently points to a random person in a crowd, a member of Congress, or his cabinet. When he does so, it's a body language form of forced teaming. It makes the other person feel as if the president temporarily raises them to the level of a peer - even if they literally and logically know it's not actually true. This makes it significantly more difficult to say, "no" to him - and much more likely that he'll be successful at winning others over to his way of thinking.
Summary: Donald Trump's frequent pointing is a common manipulative technique of nonverbal forced teaming.
Update: Unfortunately video removed by ABC. See images below
Can you site an example of an expression people use when they're trying to convince you of something? Or convince themselves? One nonverbal display commonly seen in such a scenario is the "Rationalization Rapport Empathy Expression" - otherwise known as the R2E2. An example of this facial-body language is seen in the above video at 0:33. Keri Russell displays for less than a second when she's trying to convince Jimmy Kimmel of the quality of Harrison Ford's gifts. It can be seen manifested in the form of a microexpression or significantly longer in duration. Ms. Russell's example here is relatively short-lived. The R2E2 can look a lot like the expression of disgust (do you know how to tell the difference?).
When you see the R2E2 (captured below in both wide angle and close-up), be sure to ask yourself, "What are they trying to convince me of?" and "Why are they trying to convince me?" Also be sure to discern whether THEY believe their opinion, plan, idea, etc. is fully valid. Often this expression signifies that they are trying to rationalize it aloud and enroll you as a co-rationalizor (they may need your empathy). They may need you to help convince them.
The R2E2 can also be seen very commonly in a sales situation. If you're in sales yourself - you'll find yourself using it to build rapport. In small doses it may often work - but it will often backfire (e.g. become a rapport-destroyer) if used even in moderate amounts. In cases of high sincerity, the R2E2 is rarely seen.
We all use the Rationalization Rapport Empathy Expression. Be careful of those who over-use it though.
