Marco Rubio recently gave his endorsement of Donald Trump for President. This surprised a lot of pundits (and the public) given the volume of bad blood between the two candidates in the last 12 months.
The expression on the Florida Senator's face in the image above is one that we should hope to not see too often in any leader.
This is a particularly good nonverbal image - for the angle affords allows an excellent view of the clenching of his jaw muscles (masseter muscles), the crinkling of his chin, the jutting forward of his jaw ("Jaw Jut"), the tightening of his "Mustache Area", the flaring of his nostrils (given the mustache area tension, we can infer that his left nostril is also flared) - AND the "Inward Lip Roll" (ILR).
This cluster is highly characteristic of a Suppression of Anger - both in the psyche's attempt at stifling inward growth of this emotion, as well as trying to not let it crescendo outwardly - on the face.
Take Home Point: Senator Marco Rubio does NOT want to endorse Trump (there have many nonverbal, verbal and paralanguage indications of this over the past months) but he is doing so out of duty to the Republican Party (and, of course, his strong dislike for Hillary Clinton). Whenever the body language and the verbal language are in disagreement (showing emotional and cognitive dissonance) - it's the body language which is telling the truth.
Two days later (this time in Nashua) Senator Rubio again became robotic. A short excerpt of his repetition is included in the video above (the full speech is shown below).
Any person who is in general, a sincere individual, can have moments where he/she is insincere. And certainly those whose overall personality are insincere do indeed have moments of sincerity.
One verbal tell of insincere behavior is the over-use of clichés. Clichés morph and change with the years. These verbal clichés may be more typical such and multi-worded such "All is fair in love and war" or they may be but a single word such as the extremely over-used, "Actually". Most clichés are contagions from those around us - via our local or regional culture, yet it is also a form of a cliché to repeat a word or phrase unique (or nearly so) to oneself. It's this variation of what Rubio was guilty.
When verbal clichés are spoken, the human brain essentially is using the biological equivalent of a computer sub-routine - a routine behavior/response which is compartmentalized and allows a lesser degree of computer processing power. When instead it's the human brain - the analog is less thinking. Less thinking - more knee-jerk behavior. Less thinking - less sincerity.
Thus when verbal clichés are used - there is less sincerity being felt in that moment. And therefore it makes sense that we would then expect to see signals of such insincerity displayed nonverbally as well - and that's exactly what occurs. Senator Rubio gives us a great example of this nonverbal insincerity coupled with his verbal insincerity (his repetition-clichés).
During 0:21 - 0:24 in the video above (and 7:51 - 7:54 in the complete speech below), note that Rubio touches his chest with his hand. But take a moment to slice this moment a bit thinner.
Rubio is right handed - yet he used his left hand. When a person gestures, illustrates or uses a MAP (manipulator, adaptor, pacifier) - but uses just one hand, those actions performed with the dominant hand are more sincere, while those with the non-dominant hand are significantly less sincere.
The Senator touched over his right chest - when the heart is located in the center-left (anatomy not political party). People know this intuitively. Even those who are holding and infant for the very first time in their life, will naturally place a baby's head over their left chest - regardless of their own hand-dominance.
Marco tapped his left chest at first - rather than placing his hand down. Touching once for a second or two without a tapping/patting is a higher level of sincerity - while patting connotes less sincerity and lower emotional comfort. Remember this while you in the midst of a hug with your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend.
When Rubio did eventually touch without tapping, he touched with just his fingers and his thumb - with his palm elevated off of his chest. A full palmar touch is indicative of a much higher degree of sincerity vs. just fingers/thumb or finger tips.
Thus just with this "single gesture" there are four "sub-gestures" of insincerity. Again, Marco Rubio may very well be a sincere person on the whole, but in this moment he wasn't feeling it - he was insincere - and this is exactly what many people have been saying regarding his repetitive phrases. This is also the specific reason many have attributed to his poor showing in New Hampshire.
If Rubio (or anyone) was more self-aware of and nuanced with his body language - this increased nonverbal skill would have prevented him from falling into this verbal looping of insincerity ... and primary-losing behavior.
Politicians virtually always try to "out-alpha" each other when shaking hands. Note the Senator's right hand is on top of Trump's. Because Trump didn't fully turn toward Rubio - Trump's body configuration puts him at a natural disadvantage - allowing the other person's hand to be on top (the alpha position during a dominant handshake) as well as a weakened grip strength. This disadvantage is further amplified by Trump's near 90 degree twisting of his own right wrist - and is very beta.
Rubio also displays another very high-alpha handshake maneuver - by gripping Trump's right arm, just above his elbow with his left hand. Politicians perform this as a counter-move to dominate and subtly intimidate their opponents (Candidates often make the mistake of doing the same thing with those they meet on the campaign trail. In such a setting, they are committing a major faux pas of false intimacy by invading another person's intimate space. Corporate executives and other "leaders" often use the same nonverbals with their subordinates - and thus loose major rapport points by touching another person out-of-context. In each example, the "leaders" are completely unaware of their off-putting body language). It's very possible that in this particular example, Sen. Rubio is deliberately performing this left arm, elbow-gripping in an effort to prevent Mr. Trump from pulling his hand/arm (toward Trump's chest) - a hyper-dominant, intimidation handshake variation that this businessman has a history of doing.
The primary motion expressed on Rubio's face is that of partially-suppressed disgust.
Trump, of course, then performs the expected counter-maneuver of placing part of his left hand on top of Rubio's right hand in and effort to increase his alpha tone in this moment. Yet Donald makes a mistake here too, by only using the distal ends of his fingers - rather than placing his whole hand on top of Rubio's. Then he could have further sandwiched Marco's hand between his - and turned up his alpha even more by grabbing Rubio's right wrist. By touching with only his fingers - Trump lost an opportunity and comes off as demure.
This of course, is a not a normal or common situation for shaking hands - as the vast majority of the time a greeting should be sincere. This handshake however, is heavy with insincerity.
On this day of the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, take a moment to view the above video segment from the most recent republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa. Senator Marco Rubio is featured three times during this clip. In each of these segments, especially the first two, the junior senator from Florida uses one particular nonverbal signal far too much.
Using any body language excessively (regardless of the type), just as with speaking or writing any word too frequently, will strongly suggest lack of vocabulary (spoken language, written language or body language), lack of experience (at least in this example, on such a large and important national stage) - or anxiety (the brain has difficulty multitasking during times of distress so it resorts to using the few "default settings" with which it has grown accustomed).
Sen. Rubio's intention is to project his assertiveness, determination and anger - by using a downward index finger (forefinger) point with the added hand chop dynamic. This is most certainly a high alpha body language display. The trouble is, as with most politicians and almost everyone using alpha nonverbal signals - is that they go overboard and use them far too dramatically and much too frequently. When over-used, alpha body language is, by definition, hyper-alpha and will polarize and destroy rapport rather than creating or building it.
In the political realm we will see hyper-alpha body language displays by members of the opposing party challengers (in this case the republicans opposing President Obama) much more often than members of the incumbent party running for the same political office. Moreover, hyper-alpha displays are also seen more often before the respective national conventions and a final party representative is then chosen. After the republican and democratic conventions the candidates will of course be trying to win the middle third of the electorate who are undecided - thus their nonverbals (intuitively or coached) will become more diplomatic/rapport building and less hyperbolic/less polarizing.
Did you notice Rubio's additional mistake?He wasn't really using an index finger downward point as much he was pointing directly toward the audience/camera. This is a profound faux pas, as pointing with an index finger towards anyone, even if they otherwise like you (and will vote for you) will alienate them. Index finger pointing is viewed world-wide as extremely offensive and patronizing.
As
with any athlete after a game, Senator Rubio (and his staff) should
take time to view and critique his performance, alerting him to this and
other mistakes.
It is often speculated as to why paintings Napoleon Bonaparte often
shows him with his (right) hand in his vest or jacket. While some say
this was due to a chronic stomach ailment (many think he died of stomach
cancer), or the relative difficulty portraitists had in painting hands -
however in the 17th and 18th centuries it was a custom for men of
higher sociology-economic classes to pose in such a manner. It was
widely interpreted as a "manly boldness yet tempered with modesty". Thus
the hand-in-vest pose was an alpha-beta hybrid of the era.
Most
who know history consider Napoleon a very skilled general - but also a
megalomaniac, and since so many people associate this (and similar
illustrators) so strongly with Bonaparte - one would be well advised NOT
to emulate him. Yet there is another reason - that is hardwired into
the human brain.
Take note of Ted Cruz's hand placement INSIDE of his jacket. There is an extremely strong human instinct to be suspicious those who hide their hands. This lack of trust is particularly true at strategic/key moments.
A common variation of this behavior is inserting hands into one's pant (or jacket) pockets when a question is asked. This should raise a red flag. At the very least such behavior would indicate a significantly heightened anxiety level - and depending on the other nonverbals with which it is clustered, it very well could indicate a lie.
Even if Cruz were outside in Bangor, Maine in January - his hand should be outside of his jacket (and with no glove) during the national anthem, pledge of allegiance - and when shaking hands.
What other candidate's body language in this image suggests a lack of sincerity?
This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. 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 – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.
It's an understatement to say all politicians are insincere. Of course they are - democrats, republicans, libertarians, socialists, communists, dictators - all of them. Yet some are more insincere than others.
Insincerity casts a wider net than does Lying. Think of it this way - those who are chronically insincere - and yet not lying "now" - will eventually lie (and do so sooner rather than later). Moreover, since they are skilled at gaining peoples' trust - their lies will carry more troublesome ramifications. Therefore the ability to detect insincerity and prevent it from doing damage is of profound value.
One of the best body language signals for an over-all personality trait of insincerity is a Chronically Contracted Forehead (not wrinkling, which comes with age of course, but active muscle contractions with dynamic forehead furrowing).
More than any of the 2016 Major Candidates for the U.S. Presidency - the 14 republicans or 3 democrats - Ted Cruz over-uses his forehead. To slice this even thinner, Senator Cruz contracts and elevates his central forehead (aka a central forehead contraction or CFC or Elevated CFC) extremely often. He has tried to dampen this facial display tendency by moderate Botox treatments - yet (without a heavy Botox treatment) this very telling nonverbal signal persists.
It's no coincidence that the professions where this facial dynamic is seen most frequently are: Politicians, Bad Actors, Sales Professionals and Newscasters (can you name some others?). All of these professions require acting (though not necessary formally defined as such). These individuals don't believe a significant proportion of what they say - and, if a person persistently practices such behavior, it is by definition "Chronic Insincerity".
This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. 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 – not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.
During the Republican debate last Thursday, Rubio responded to a question regarding illegal immigration with repeated, fairly monotonous variations of the same nonverbal illustrator. With some mild variations, the Florida Senator used the index finger-to-thumb pinch-point with his right (dominant hand) during his entire response (except at the very end - once his time had expired).
Pinch-Point Forward
This is a more aggressive, more polarizing, hyper-authoritative nonverbal and should never be used for too long a duration (only a few seconds when driving home a crucial issue).
A person displaying the forward pinch-point - and in a tight fashion as Senator Rubio is here, indicates a higher level of anxiety.
The downward pinch-point is also high on the scale of both an anxiety indicator as well as signaling both aggressiveness and authoritativeness.
Hand tension is highly correlative with facial tension.
This pinch-point is more loosely-held and indicates a reduction of the Senator's stress. Accordingly we can see his face shows less tension as well.
Here - we see a brief "Loose Fist Thumbs-up". It's almost a "Politician's Point" - and is a more relaxed illustrator as well (The thumb is not pinching against the forefinger [index finger], but they are momentarily forming a circle).
In this moment, all five digits come together - in a loose pinch - and importantly, the palm is turned upward.
Palm-up displays generate more rapport and indicate less anxiety.
Senator Rubio is saved by the bell - for it's not until it rings that Marco uses his left hand in this answer. During this entire response it was griping the lectern. The monotonous use of only one arm/hand is a sure signal of anxiety - moreover it has projects less confidence, diminishes trust and significantly reduces the ability to influence others.
Knowing his time is up - at least until he gets another question - Senator Rubio's anxiety drops, he loosens-up his body language and his left hand comes out of hiding. The increased distance Rubio's arms are from his torso in this last moment are also very telling for his momentary heightened confidence.
Notice how relaxed Rubio's face has become - and of course his hands, arms and shoulders are as well. Always remember this control mechanism - lowering the tension in your upper limbs will reduce your nervousness. Senator Rubio would be well-advised to practice more relaxed and fluid arm-hand gestures (yet such nonverbals must ALWAYS congruent). Not only will this project more confidence and build greater rapport (ergo votes) - but it will also have the added benefit of down-regulating the Senator's anxiety level via a user-friendly feedback loop.
A Reminder: This website serves as an objective reference source for the science and art of Body Language/Nonverbal Communication. 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 - not to advance any political, religious or other agenda.
Yesterday Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) announced his candidacy for the 2016 Presidency of the United States. Without a doubt, the junior Senator from Florida needs to improve his nonverbal skills - and while he has and continues to commit his share (or more) of faux pas, yesterday he displayed an example of a body language signal - of which its underlying emotion we need to see much more of in politics.
The above video is an edited portion of Senator Rubio's announcement. These three images are taken from the very beginning portion.
This first image was captured at 0:08, just as he finished up the word, "... States ..."
At 0:09, Senator Rubio closes his eyelids in an extended blink as his face blushes and he suppresses a sincere smile.
Senator Rubio then looks down to his right (still 0:09 and for several seconds thereafter).
In the great majority of right-handed people, when they look down to the right when they are emotionally processing of someone or something close to their heart - a person, an idea, image, repercussion, memory, etc. His prolonged eyelid closure and blushing are also congruent nonverbal displays.
Whether you agree with a person's politics or not, it's important to always strive to be objective ("Rationalization is THE great human sport." S.King). More specifically, when assessing any politician - such attempts at objectivity should always involve separating political opinions from character issues. And while no candidate is perfect - in this moment, this particular politician is projecting a very human emotion - he is humbled by what he is undertaking.
The body language displayed in this first Time Magazine cover (left) is by far the best of the three Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) shown on this page - although it can certainly be improved upon. His feet cannot be seen but are clearly "felt" to be about a shoulder's width apart - which is very alpha and what is expected to be seen-felt in a leader. Woman leaders, often in an effort to appear feminine, stand with their feet close together and thus appear diminutive and very beta. While the "not-too alpha-but-not-too-beta zone" is (very unfairly) more difficult to navigate for women (a huge double-standard), every female leader should nonetheless endeavor to do so. Women should stand with their feet just slightly closer together than men (about an inch less than shoulder's width) during any such "leadership moments".
The Junior Senator from Florida's hands are relaxed - showing no tension. This lack of tension is important. It sends signals of a person who is comfortable in his/her own skin and confident. He looks as if his right hand is about to reach out (perhaps in a handshake, note also that his right shoulder is lower) and he also seems to be leading slightly with his right foot-leg. Although this a "static" image and thus only a moment in time, this implied motion gives Rubio a bit of dynamism here.
In this close-up from the above cover, Marco Rubio's facial expression shows a trace of contempt. Not the best choice - however it is subtle.While his face is probably meant to show readiness and assertiveness, it would have been considerably better to show a sincere smile.
In this National Review cover from September 2009, Senator Rubio like many alpha's - male or female, politicians or CEOs, actors or athletes - have and will continue to pose in this arms-crossed configuration on the front of magazines. It's not only old and it's tired - it's WRONG. It does not send the message they want to project. They are never sending signals of confidence when they pose or adopt this configuration - for this nonverbal is consistent with a defensive and closed-off mindset.
Senator Rubio's face also shows clear signals of anger with mild incredulity.
In this lower resolution image of an earlier Time Magazine cover, Senator Rubio is shown in a lower confidence body language stance. Nearly all forms of self-touching signal anxiety, and his particular hand-to-hand nonverbal here is a good example of a beta body language. In it, Senator Rubio's nonverbals are considerably non-assertive and demure. He is hesitant. While most people cannot necessarily "bullet point" and dissect this image, they are certainly left with these emotional impressions.
In the above video, former U.S. Vice Presidential Candidate, Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) alludes to the 2016 Presidential Race. Mr. Ryan's body language exemplifies several "Tongue-in-Cheek" displays at 0:19 (subtle), 0:20 - 0:21 (overt) and again at 0:23 (difficult to see).
The Tongue-in-Cheek nonverbal in this body language context indicates a self-righteousness or smug emotional tone. It is a body language seen when a person, in a specific context, views them self as an Alpha. And although not the case here, depending on the other nonverbals and parlanguage with which it is clustered - it can also be indicative of Telling a lie, "I just won the game" or "I gotcha". In these settings it can be considered a form of "duping delight". Depending on the other nonverbals with which it is clustered, the tongue-in-cheek can have other meanings, such as part of a sexual attraction display cluster or occasionally as a pacifying anxiety indicator. Can you tell the difference? Are you sure?
This is a funny and yet instructive video. In the first segment, SenatorMarco Rubio says, "...three, four, five, six, seven years from now - if I do a good job as Vice President ..." The Senator then immediately realizes his mistake. At the 0:07 mark, Senator Rubio displays a classic microexpressionof incredulity - showing us a glimpse into his emotional mind - for he is in disbelief at what he just said. His left forehead and left eyebrow both elevate - while the right side of Mr. Rubio's face remains unchanged. This evanescent body language lasts less than 0.5 of a second.
During the 0:07 - 0:11 segment, Senator Rubio then reaches out and touches the forearm of his interviewer. While virtually all politicians violate others' personal space and indeed touch too much - thus destroying rapport more than building it - particularly during variations of the political handshake - Rubio's touch here is one of high sincerity. The psyche (via his hand) is literally "reaching out" in an effort to try and retrieve his mistake. When people touch in a deliberate and delayed fashion however, it demonstrates that consciousness is most likely directing their actions. The Senator's gesture occurred very quickly though - and in this context it shows us his subconscious was in charge.
Marco Rubio's subconscious is honest - as is yours.
Additionally Rubio's laugh and smile are very sincere - his eyes are closed or nearly so (with the required concave-up crescent present in both lower lids) after misspeaking. Also, only Marco's upper teeth are visible - another touchstone of authenticity. His eyelids demonstrate an extended closure too - which is common after misspeaking in a public forum. In such settings, this nonverbal indicates sincere embarrassment and the emotional processing of an event.
Marco Rubio noticeably blushes as well - and of course such body language can't be feigned. The freshman Senator just won over some more constituents - for humor, particularly when sincere and self-deprecating, humanizes us all.
