Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3853: Tom Hiddleston, a School Play and Eddie Redmayne - Body Language and Emotional Intelligence (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

It seems that once upon a time, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne were in a school play together. In this video, Hiddleston recounts the childhood experience.

Although we often tend to think of them as 'good liars' - for we want them to suspend our disbelief - when they are not 'in character' (when they are 'in their own skin') actors are no better at fooling us than the average person.

In the first few seconds of the above video, Hiddleston develops anxiety when Graham Norton brings up the subject of the school play. Tom rapidly becomes embarrassed - evidenced by his blushing (easy to see despite the orange-red background) and a sincere smile - albeit a suppressed one.

In this image captured above Hiddleston displays relaxed forehead muscles, partially closed eyelids, lower eyelids with concave-up dynamic furrows, upward vectored and contracting cheek muscles. And yet none of his teeth are on display, for his lips are tighten while he tries not to laugh (or fully smile).

Hiddleston is also reaching for his nose.

The most common cause for touching of one's face is anxiety (regardless of its degree or the specific cause) - and the vast majority of times (98+%), we are not even aware we're doing so.

While the touching of the nose may be correlated with deception - this is not true for all hand-to-nose contact. When the nose is pulled or pinched between the thumb and forefinger (index finger) it too indicates anxiety - but more specifically it signals a 'dialing up of alpha qualities'. The psyche recognizes the need for an up-regulation to stronger, more assertive qualities - and the action of this MAP (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier) helps us to do so. It's analogous to a slap in the face or a splash of cold water causing one's emotions to be 'jump started' and thus redirected.

The nose pinch/nose pull is but one many examples of alpha up-regulators. What others can you name?


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3852: Donald Trump's Impromptu Press Conference - Part II - "Are they friends of yours?"

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3850: Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump and Michael Flynn - Press Conference

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3848: Donald Trump's and Justin Trudeau's Handshake

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3836: President Trump nominates Judge Neil Gorsuch for The Supreme Court

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3821: Alicia Keys Sings for Charlie Rose - Sincerity Amplifiers

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3510: Lindsey Graham - The Senator Picks His Poison: Ted Cruz vs. Donald Trump

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3485: Chris Christie's Facial Expressions standing behind Donald Trump - Bad Body Language on Super Tuesday

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3451: Angelique Kerber defeats Serena Williams in Australian Open


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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3433: Barack Obama, The State of the Union and Paul Ryan - Body Language (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Tonight Barack Obama gave his final State of the Union Address. There were, of course, truly thousands of nonverbal signals within this speech. One particularly interesting body language moment wasn't displayed by the President - but by Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan.

At 0:32 in the above video excerpt, President Obama continues, "... I believe a thriving private sector is the life-blood of our economy. I think there are out-dated regulations that need to be changed. There is red tape that needs to be cut."


The audience then makes what appears to be a bipartisan applause.

In the next few seconds Speaker Ryan displays two quick "Nose Pulls" (aka "Nose Pinches") during 0:47 and 0:48.

Then we see him lean over to get a handkerchief out of his back pocket. Be assured that his decision to (pseudo) wipe his nose was made only because of his nose pull - not due to his nose running. He knows that he shouldn't have touched his face in this manner in such a public forum and the wiping is his psyche's attempt at a ruse. 

This nose pinch/pull is an example of a robust variety of nose-touching. It's a type of alpha up-regulator - and is seen where assertiveness is needed. On some level, the person displaying a nose pull or pinch may feel a level of embarrassment - which is often self-inflicted, by their own words - although here of course, Mr. Ryan's listening. He's (along with others) being "called-out".

During 0:49 we see the Speaker display a clear "Tongue-in-Cheek" nonverbal signal.

In this cluster context this tell indicates Paul Ryan is thinking-feeling, "Gotcha" or "I Just Won". Depending on the nonverbals with which it is clustered, the tongue-in-cheek may have other meanings (What are these?).

In summary, this set of nonverbal signs tells us that Mr. Ryan was in the moment feeling the need to be more assertive and up-regulate his alpha emotional tone within the context of his relatively new role as Speaker of the House - AND he has a specific plan/idea for doing so, wherein he feels a significant political victory. The tongue-in-cheek often thus has a clandestine-plan component. In effect, what he was really taking out of his back pocket (metaphorically) was an ace that he was waiting to deal.


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3432: Leonardo DiCaprio reacts to Lady Gaga at Golden Globe Awards

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3329: Robert De Niro Hears Tom Hiddleston's Robert De Niro Impression - The Graham Norton Show 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2352: Mila Kunis' Tongue in Cheek - Graham Norton Part II 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2796: Olivia Wilde, Butter, Jon Stewart and the Tongue in Cheek 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2796: Olivia Wilde, Butter, Jon Stewart and the Tongue in Cheek

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3077: Barack Obama, The 2015 State of the Union Address Part II & What John Boehner Doesn't Believe

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3273: Marco Rubio, The Republican Debate, Monotonous Body Language and Anxiety

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3190: Taylor Swift's Body Language of Feigned Surprise 
 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3329: Robert De Niro Hears Tom Hiddleston's Robert De Niro Impression - The Graham Norton Show - Body Language Tells (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

If you've never watched Graham Norton, you're missing something. His is routinely one of the most hilarious shows you'll ever watch - and this clip is no exception. Tom Hiddleston does some great impressions - of Owen Wilson, Christopher Walken - and then he proceeds to Robert De Niro - who's sitting on the same couch. And although he's an excellent actor himself, Hiddleston - enamored with De Niro slips back and forth between being "in character" (e.g. Stanislavsky) and his nervous, "I-can't-believe-I'm-impersonating-Robert De Niro-while-he's-sitting-right-here" self.

This video provides dozens and dozens of nonverbal examples. One could spend a couple hours using this six minute video alone as a teaching example. Yet there is one nonverbal here which needs thin-slicing - for it's very often mischaracterized - and rarely nuanced.

Facial touching is of course an extremely common manifestation of anxiety (as indeed it is here). And it is often taught that nose touching - while not absolute - is one of the MAPs [Manipulators, Adaptors, Pacifiers]) which is seen with significantly greater frequency in the context of deception. While this is also true - the nose touching associated with deception is almost always a scratch, touch, rub or flick. Yet here we see another variation - that, while is correlated with anxiety - is much less common with lying. What Mr. Hiddleston examples for us six times here is a "Nose Pull" or "Nose Pinch".

The more robust varieties of the nose pull/pinch are examples of alpha up-regulators, where assertiveness is being called upon. It's a signal that the person feels some level of embarrassment (and is trying to suppress it) - as they realize they're over-stepping social boundaries - yet they dial-up their alpha and push on

It's crucial to never interpret a nonverbal signal in isolation - rather to note other body language signs with which it is clustered. As mentioned above, there are a multitude of other nonverbals in this video - on all five of those pictured. How many others did you see? What verifies that Hiddleston is feeling anxiety and is not attempting any sort of lie?

2:35

3:00

4:23

4:37
(camera cuts away a split second before nose pull/pinch)

5:20

5:43














See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3328: PewDiePie on Stephen Colbert's Late Show - a Common Body Language Alpha Up-Regulator

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 1901:  Maria Sharapova's Anxiety

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3210: Matteo Renzi, Christine Lagarde, Barack Obama and Up-Regulating Alpha Emotions

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3282: Zac Efron Swam with a Wild Tiger Shark and Avoided an Attack by using Body Language


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