Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2579: Brandon Bryant Body Language of Disgust and Empathy - Confessions of a Drone Operator (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

 Brandon Bryant is a former drone operator (aka drone sensor operator) for the U.S. Military.

At 4:54 Bryant states, "... there's a lot less mistakes than an F-16, but it's still made me feel like, like I just ended a human life, you know ... ah, how is anyone supposed to deal with that?". During the 5:01 - 5:02 segment (underlined) the former Drone operator beautifully exemplifies a combination of two different emotions felt simultaneously - that of empathy and disgust.

Bryant's central forehead muscle contracts and is somewhat subtle and higher up in this particular moment and example (in ellipse withing photo below yet best see in the dynamic context of the video). Whenever one feels either emotional pain or physical pain directly for oneself or indirectly for another via empathy - the central forehead contracts (take heed though, for there are other contexts for a CFC).

The CFC is also accompanied by an elevation of his inner (medial) eyebrows.

Disgust in the former drone operator's face is shown by a bilateral nostril flaring and a tightening of his "mustache area" (referred to as such regardless of gender or absence facial hair) along with an evanescent deepening of both nasal-labial folds. And although not required for disgust, the partial closing of Bryant's eyelids here amplifies his disgust.

The fact that Brandon Bryant displays these facial expressions in this context in highly consistent with one who experiencing as well as predicting who is prone to developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

From a nonverbal communication standpoint, this interview is a fantastic teaching video. What other telling body language did you spot?

See also:

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1499:  Bill Clinton's Empathy for Eric Fehrnstrom and  Mitt Romney ... What's Your Sincerity Quotient

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2565: Goblin Valley State Park - Knocking over Hoodoo Rock Formation - Body Language of Boy Scout "Leaders"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1732:  Rationalization, Rapport, Empathy Expression  How Jewel got her name

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2512:  Matthew Cordle's YouTube Confession  and the Death of Vincent Canzani  "I Killed a Man" - What His Body Language Tells Us ...  It's NOT what you think!

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2537: Kenya Mall Attack Witness, Body Language Tell

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2390:  Charles Ramsey Interview & Cleveland Kidnappings -  Sarcastic Disbelief, Disgust and Exclamation 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2507:  Secretary of State Kerry's Disgust  An Oft Overlooked and Camouflaged Body Language Signal

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2416: Brit Marling, the Every Woman & "The East" Body Language of Mild to Moderate Disgust and ...

The beautiful and talented Brit Marling stars in the new movie, "The East". She also co-wrote and co-produced the film.

Several times during the 0:36 - 0:45 (example imaged below) segment, Ms. Marling gives us a great body language-facial expression of mild-moderate disgust (about a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10). Note her mild nostril dilation (aka nasal flaring) coupled with her mid-face tension. In particular the area between her upper lip and nose (aka the "mustache area") vertically elongates and grows tense. This causes the philtrum to lose definition. Superimposed over her speech, a subtle and evanescent down turning of the corners of her mouth can be seen as well as a slight protrusion of her lower lip. Notably Brit's eyelid closure and lowering of her eyebrows are also consistent with disgust.

What other nonverbals does Ms. Marling display? What other emotions is she feeling?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2164:  Mitt Romney's Disgust Display regarding  President Obama's Relationship with Putin and Russia -  ".... I'll give you more flexibility after the election ....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2045:  Disgust in New Delhi

Negotiation Secret # 72 & 73: Disgust & Incredulity

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1841:  Disgust in Response to Rep. Barney Frank's "Hoodie" Joke

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2390:  Charles Ramsey Interview & Cleveland Kidnappings -  Sarcastic Disbelief, Disgust and Exclamation

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2051:  Mitt Romney regarding Campaign Finance Rules -  Near-Microexpression of Disgust

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1496:  Tiger Woods' Disgust & Biofeedback

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2191:  Anne Hathaway's Impersonation of Katie Holmes on SNL -  "Norming" Katie and Variations on a Theme

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2414: Sen. John McCain after his Trip to Syria - Body Language of Regret and Contempt

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) just returned from a trip to Syria. It is well known that Sen. McCain has long believed the United States should supply weapons to the Syrian Rebels (those forces opposed to Bashar al Assad). When Anderson Cooper asks him about his feelings after direct experience while in Syria, Sen. McCain displays some telling facial expressions.

What makes his particular facial nonverbals more difficult to dissect is the fact that Sen. McCain has residual facial nerve (Cranial Nerve VII) palsy (when no causes are found after a complete medical evaluation, this is referred to as Bell's Palsy). This leaves his left forehead, eyebrow, cheek and mouth corner mildly hypo-reactive and "droopy" - thus making his expressions more complex than most to accurately assess.

At 0:06, the left corner of John McCain's mouth pulls primarily laterally (note dynamic dimple adjacent to left mouth) - signaling the emotion of regret. 

There are other nonverbal manifestations of regret - Do you know these?

At 0:07, we can see significantly greater upward vectoring and tightening of McCain's Cheek and the left portion of his "mustache area" - consistent with a greater contempt emotional component.

The Senator has slight nose asymmetry leaving his baseline configuration of a left nostril (nostril dilation aka nasal flaring) larger than his right - implying contempt

Bilateral closing of the eyelids in this context is contempt amplifier.

In summary Senator McCain feels two emotions here - first regret followed rapidly by contempt.  What other nonverbal signals do you see in this video?

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2320:  Estonian Skier Andrus Veerpalu  Denies Performance Enhancing Drugs -  What his Body Language Tells Us

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1517:  Signals of Acquiescence and Regret  Rick Santorum Drops Out

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2408:  Sen. Kelly Ayotte's Anxiety & Regret via  Senators Graham & McCain - Republican Body Language in Response to  President Obama's National Defense University Speech

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2323:  Jodi Arias Murder Trial  The Body Language of Unilateral Regret vs. Contempt

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2228:  Jay Carney's Body Language -  Contempt disguised as a Sniff ....  for Republicans' Solutions to the Fiscal Cliff

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2350:  Contempt - both dramatic and subtle -  Backpedaling and Body Language

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1267:  John McCain, Sarah Palin and Bell's Palsy

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2312: Bruce Willis' Body Language - Contempt vs. Suppressed Smile vs. Pseudo Smile vs. Sincere Smile

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2384:  Bashar al-Assad on 1 May 2013 - Demure, Beta and Nervous - Body Language Lessons on how NOT to appear Confident

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2045: Disgust in New Delhi

A clear facial-body language expression of disgust can be seen on the woman in the center of this image (wearing the white & yellow). The most prominent feature is bilateral flaring (dilation) of the nostrils (when only one nostril is dilated - think contempt). Her lower lip (more prominently) and upper lip (typically less noticeable) are both raised and protruding - which is also a very common manifestation of this emotion. Additionally, other portions of her mid-face are tightened - particularly the "mustache area" above the upper lip - as well as the accentuated nasal-labial furrows on the each side of her nose. Also present in this nonverbal cluster is the lowering of her eyebrows with a relaxed forehead. Dynamic Chin wrinkling is also very characteristic and can be seen here. Partial closure of the eyelids is also very commonly displayed but often overlooked as a component of the contempt facial cluster.

If this photo were a close-up, we may also be able to see dynamic "crows' feet" laterally to each eye along with furrows created by active muscle contraction of the corrugator supercilii muscles on the "bridge of the nose".

Disgust, like contempt, whether it's in New Delhi or New York may be felt towards a person or group of people - but disgust can also be directed towards non-living things .... like the rain.

See also:

Analysis # 1496: Tiger Woods' Disgust & Biofeedback

Analysis # 271: Disgust with very little Mouth Component

Analysis # 273: Anger and Disgust in Azerbaijan

Analysis # 72 & 73: Christine Lagarde's Disgust & Incredulity

 

Analysis # 1890: Eric Holder has (Emotional) Contempt toward Darrell Issa - while Rep. Issa is Very Excited to be Seeking "Contempt of Congress" against Holder

Analysis # 457: A Contempt Amplifier

Analysis # 1816: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Contempt & Mary Richardson Kennedy's Social Smile 

Secret # 1450: Rick Santorum's Contempt and Frown - The Proverbial Twisted Smile

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Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1138: Jennifer Hudson's Whitney Houston Tribute

Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston at the 2012 Grammy's Sunday night was very moving. Ms. Hudson's performance was incredible - not only because of her beautiful voice and the personalized lyrical additions towards the end of "I Will Always Love You", but also because of her very human-emotional displays which of course, provoked strong feelings of grief-sadness-empathy in all who witnessed and heard her performance.

In the image above, Ms. Hudson shows us an "Inward Lip Roll" (aka ILR) which is a common nonverbal seen when there is an effort to "hold in" strong (usually negative) emotions. She knew Whitney personally, so her sadness-grief was certainly more strongly felt than most other performers would be in her shoes. Her eyelid closure at this same moment shows even more of an attempt on the unconsciousness's part to sequester sadness.

In the next image (below), Jennifer adopts a prayer/pseudo-prayer emblem with her hands. Although Ms. Hudson's faith is unknown to me/most of us, depending on the other Body Language it's clustered with, it can indicate several different emotional states. When we look at her facial characteristics - e.g., her slightly upturned inner (medial) eyebrows, chin wrinkling, lateral-mouth tension with a slight down-turning of the mouth's corners - all project solid emotional characteristics of sadness. 

In addition, in this context, her elbows-in configuration (held close to her sides) gives us an additional signal of low-comfort/sadness.

Often when a person is attempting to hold back tears and reign in a sadness, their mid-face will display a vertical and horizontal stretching-tension. This is extremely common. It's easy to spot if you know what to look for - the nasal flaring (dilation) and tightening of the "mustache area" is a neon light for her effort to hold back tears.

In this final image (below), Ms. Hudson transitions further to a mouth covering just after the pray/pseudo-prayer emblem noted above. This particular gesture has a very high sincerity quotient. When you see it displayed, especially when clustered with other body language as we see here, there is an extreme amount of empathy being experienced. If it is preceded by, or coexists with surprise and/or fear, it can indicate shock-disbelief.

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