Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2541: Barack Obama, Permanent U.N. Security Council Members, Syria's Chemical Weapon Disarmament and a Presidential Gaffe - Body Language in the Oval Office (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

In this recent video, President Obama commits a big nonverbal mistake. He typically has outstanding body language skills but it appears here that he was not fully present in the moment. Unfortunately this probably burned some bridges with the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh with whom he was sitting.

Note: The original video has, since the original post, been removed from its online source. The images below however, were captured from this video. 

India has long sought to be a permanent member of the United Nation's Security Council. At the beginning of this video (0:03 - 0:08), Barack Obama gestures with a loose fist thumbs up configuration directly at Mr. Singh and yet was speaking about Russia and the other members of the P5 (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China), the other (rotating) members of the U.N. Security Council (of which India is not currently one) - and the efforts to disarm Syria of chemical weapons.

This mistimed gesture made it seem to Mr. Singh and those who were watching - that Mr. Obama had somehow momentarily confused the Indian leader for a Russian one - or perhaps that India was on the U.N. Security Council. Of course neither of these is true. When he realized this mistake, Mr. Obama reflexively retracted his hand and arm away from the Prime Minister and closed both of his eyes and verbally paused as he tried to collect his composure.

Bilateral eyelid closure in this context is significant for emotional processing and a desire to emotionally "wipe away" an event which was just witnessed or "erase" a mistake that was just committed.  It is useful to think of this as the emotional mind trying to "catch up to" what the intellectual mind already knows to be true.

In addition Mr. Obama is displaying a near microexpression of contempt (on his left) which is almost certainly self-directed. He is scolding himself for having made such a major mistake.










Oodles of other nonverbal signs are in this video. What other significant tells do you see?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis #2291:  A Tight Fist and Tension in The Face -  Jay Carney's Body Language as he defends  Chuck Hagel's performance during  Senate Confirmation Hearing

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2152:  Second Presidential Debate - 16 October 2012 -  Barack Obama's Duping Delight -  Benghazi, Libya Attack was an "Act of Terror" -  Alpha, Beta, Confidence & Acquiescence ....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2374:  Tom Cruise on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Body Language of Emotional Dissonance

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2285:  Emotional Processing during Crying - Body Language of Survivor of Brazilian Nightclub Fire

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1510:  Handshakes, Statesmanship and Dominance -  Manmohan Singh & Asif Ali Zardari

Leadership Secret # 17:  The Only Time for the Politicians' Double Hander

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2511:  Barack Obama & Vladimir Putin Handshake at 2013 G20 Meeting

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Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1510: Handshakes, Statesmanship and Dominance - Manmohan Singh & Asif Ali Zardari

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met yesterday in New Dehli, India. Although the significance of the meeting was down-played, and probably well advised in an effort not to raise false hopes - this is a positive signal of a possible warming between the two countries. 

President Zardari, on the left side of this image, is in the best position for a leader to be photographed. Try to place yourself similarly for any photo ops. The reason for this is simple - yet nonverbally powerful. With a traditional handshake, Zardari's hand will be closer to the camera and the audience - thus he will appear more dominant. Additionally, his right hand is on top of Prime Minister Singh's (with his palm roughly parallel to the floor as opposed to the traditional perpendicular and configuration) - further raising his "dominance Quotient". Singh, of course, tries to compensate for his own less dominant body and hand positions by placing his left hand on top of his Pakistani counterpart - in a body language maneuver of one-upmanship.  Zardari further counters Singh by placing his left hand on top of Singh's. If his objective was to to appear more dominant (as with all heads-of-state whom are photographed on such occasions), a significantly superior nonverbal counter-move for the Pakistani leader would have been for him to place his left hand on Singh's right shoulder. 

However, if your goal is to bond and develop rapport - as it of course should be most often - the "photo op handshake rules of dominance" very often do not apply. It is a tricky thing for a leader to try to appear to his/her people and the World as more dominant - and yet also to build rapport and solve big problems. There ARE solutions to this conundrum though ....

See also:

Secret # 1131: Romney's Handshake, Santorum's Bicep's and Dominance

Secret # 379: Dominant Handshake Tendencies
 

Secret # 1032: Romney, Rapport and Handshakes
Secret # 483: Handshake on the 18th - Not So Fast

Secret # 731: Beautiful Prime Minister - Bad Handshake

Secret # 1051: The President Trumps the Speaker

Secret # 441: Bill Clinton's Rapport and his Temporary Universe 

Secret # 112: Pakistan Trumps Iran

Secret # 17: The Only Time for the Politicians' Double-Hander

Secret # 703: Bad Handshake? Let me count the Ways!

Secret # 299: At Arm's Length 

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Leadership Secret # 17: The Only Time for the Politicians' Double Hander

Politicians are well known for their "Double-Hander" handshakes, in which they will sandwich your right hand with both of their's.  The Double-hander is universally received as negative - interpreted as "inappropriately friendly" at best - and patronizing and condescending by most - yet many people, especially politicians continue to use it.  However there is one occasion to use the double-hander - it's one of two ways to counter an overly-dominant handshake.

Here, United States President, Barack Obama was briefly in the dominant handshake position in two ways - a moment before this photo was taken.  First, he is on the left side of the photo. This is considered dominant because his hand will be closer to the crowd (and cameras), much more visible and thus perceived to be "on top" even if it's in the neutral/vertical position.  Additionally, Mr. Obama has maneuvered his hand to be even more dominant by rotating his arm inwards (clockwise from Obama's point-of-view) & thus his hand is on top of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's hand. This is easy for a taller man to do - for his height affords greater leverage.  Mr. Singh is left with two ways to counter this double-dominant handshake - he has chosen the simplest - by "sandwiching" Mr. Obama's right hand between both of his.

Like a game on the playground though, Mr. Obama further counters Mr. Singh's sandwiching using the last counter-move remaining - to put his left hand on Prime Minister Singh's upper back/right shoulder region - which he does here. Although it would have been a bit more dominant if Obama's hand was on the top/front of Singh's shoulder - so that the audience could visualize his fingers/hands (and Singh would feel more patronized) - Obama nuances the narrow grey zone of not being "overly-alpha" and thus builds rapport.

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