Many have inquired of late with regards to the Speaker of U.S. House of Representative's body language. At multiple times, Boehner's mouth rapidly and evanescently pulls up at both corners in what some novices mistake for disgust or regret - and still others confuse it with "duping delight" (Ekman). However this is a facial tic (particular image below is captured from 0:21). Mr. Boehner displays it often and it increases in frequency with his anxiety level. The presence of this facial tic makes other nonverbal signals (such as those associated with the emotions mentioned above) more difficult to discern.
What other body language (e.g. non-tic facial expressions) in this video betray the Speaker's true thought-feelings with regards to suing the President?
Megan Olivi asks, "...After you realized what had happened, what went through your mind?"
Weidman answers, "I knew he was, I, well obviously I knew when I checked the kick he was - I saw something not look good and he went down in pain - and ah, ..."
His suppressed smile (as he says "...not look good...")tells us that he is being deceptive here. Of course, it was very good - but for Weidman. They both were there to hurt their opponent and inflict bodily damage and pain.
Weidman continues, "... so I was just makin' sure he was alright and I felt bad for him. You know I don't like to see someone's leg get broken."
This very brief nonverbal display seen at 0:25 when he says, "...bad..." is a clear example of a microexpression of duping delight.
It should not surprise too many people that a UFC fighter would be lying in such a scenario. The take home point however, is that in the many daily situations when the verbal message contradicts or is not congruent with the nonverbal message - it is the nonverbal which indicates the person's true thoughts-feelings. Knowing how to recognize these disparities in all their nuance is a skill for which there is no parallel.
It is also very important to note that there were NO signals of empathy displayed by Weidman. If this fight had not occurred in the octagon - but in the street (as many similar ones do on a daily basis) - we would say "He displays no nonverbal signs of remorse".
Manti Te'o's full interview with Katie Couric was released yesterday. While Te'o is telling some truths and displaying elements of some sincerity (depending on what he was discussing at different moments - for recall that body language is a glimpse into what the emotional-mind is feeling in real time) - he is selectively editing and thus holding back the whole truth and indeed is continuing in being deceptive. At multiple times his body language signals did not agree with the emotions he was claiming to be experiencing. When the nonverbal and the verbal communications show disparity - the nonverbal is always correct.
One particular example is what is known in the nonverbal world as "Duping Delight". Paul Ekman coined this term to describe components of a smile which leak out when we fool (or dupe) someone with a lie or partial truth. We subconscious or semi-consciously take delight in such a ruse, and portions of a smile are displayed. These are often very fleeting. And these smile-fragments occur at times when happiness, joy or delight are NOT congruent with context of the verbal message. This can be seen very well in the video segment above when (beginning at 0:43) Katie Couric asks, "Did you have any involvement in creating this scam?" and Te'o answers, "No, I, I, I did not." (Note also his stuttering with the word "I" as well as the relatively decreased volume of that same word - these paralanguage displays are also very suggestive of lying in this context). During the 0:50 - 0:51 segment Mr. Te'o exhibits clear duping delight on his left side. This is but one of many times he displays this very telling nonverbal during his interview with Ms. Couric.
We may never learn the whole truth, but Manti Te'o has not yet fully disclosed the whole story of what has transpired with his hoaxed girlfriend "Lennay Kekua" and/or Ronaiah Tuiasosopo.
In this clip of the Armstrong-Oprah Winfrey interview, Lance displays a great example of a cluster of anger. Freeze the video at 0:47. Note how Armstrong's lips stretch horizontally and grow very thin (particularly his upper lip). Alone, this nonverbal is highly consistent with anger. This body language co-exists with significant tightening of the disgraced athlete's mid-face and a dilation of both nostrils - both also correlative with anger.
In addition, Armstrong's eyelids are opened significantly wider than normal. In the context of the above mentioned facial displays, this amount of eyelid nonverbal is diagnostic of a moderately elevated level of anger.
Armstrong is an example of what Paul Ekman has termed a "Natural Actor". In short, he is a very good liar. He had most of the World duped.
At the 1:38 mark Armstrong says, "....I'm not the most believable guy in the World right now, I understand, but [then he takes deep breath] I did not do that", in reference to bullying and threatening others to use performance enhancing drugs. This is what is known, as couching a "truth within a lie" - he tells us a truth that we believe ("....I'm not the most believable guy in the World right now, I understand, but I did not do that ...") then he tells a lie ("...but I did not do that"). When the lie is buried within a truth, we are more likely to believe the liar. At the 1:45 mark he once again adopts the "thinned lips of anger and eyelids open wide of anger." And although not definitive, within the context of this massive mia culpa and his truth within a lie - this anger display is also suggestive of deception. Note also he inhales deeply an instant prior to saying, "... I did not do that". This deep inhalation at this specific time is strongly suggestive of anxiety-deception. A person telling the truth would not have to pause for breathe here. Then he stares directly at Oprah (we cannot be sure because she is not in this camera view, but very probably in her eyes). When in the midst of defending a lie, eye contact either goes WAY up (e.g., staring into one eye or switching between eyes) or drops off significantly during moment of the lie. Lance stared at Oprah. All of this indicates than Armstrong was lying about threatening his team mates. Armstrong did not come fully clean.
As Paul Ekman so very astutely has pointed out - when attempting to judge someone's guilt or innocence, we must (among many other things) be very aware of what he calls the "Othello Error". This mistake may occur when those who are the "lie detectors" or "deceit prosecutors" - don't take into account that a person who is telling the truth is also experiencing anxiety - and thus because of this stress appear as if he/she is lying.
In Shakespeare's famous play, Othelloevokes this type of fear in his innocent wife, Desdemona - when she learns that the only person (Cassio) who can prove her innocence is now dead (Othello had him killed). Othello saw the fear and anxiety on Desdemona's face and interpreted this as being caused by her emotions over losing her alleged lover. Othello failed to consider that the stress he saw - although very real - was the result of anxiety Desdemona was experiencing over losing her only witness. She feels trapped! His observations were accurate - but his conclusions are false!
I was not there (neither were you) so we cannot claim to know whether Mr. Zimmerman is guilty or innocent.
Zimmerman shows us a relatively stoic face. His rate of blinking is substantially increased in frequency. Comparing his blinking to that of the officer on Zimmerman's right, we can easily see that the frequency is substantially increased. It is very important to consider what his normal blink rate is however (i.e., What is his baseline?). If we saw him before and after his court appearance - and he blinked substantially less, then we would be much more confident that this change was indicative of increased stress-anxiety. It is also important to ensure Mr. Zimmerman does not suffer from an ophthalmic condition which causes him to blink so often. As pointed out above though, this level of stress is not surprising, regardless of any guilt or innocence.
The duration of some of Mr. Zimmerman's blinks are also increased. Provided that there is no medical or habitual etiology here, this is consistent with psychological "blocking" - wanting to make everything disappear. George Zimmerman's intellect knows he's in court, but his emotional brain is still processing this. It's coming to terms with this reality. This is very normal behavior for anyone in this context.
Zimmerman's eyes are opened wider than those in a normal resting state. It is particularly apparent when he first walks into the courtroom. In this context, this "white and wide" appearance is indicative of fear and associated increased sympathetic nervous system activity and elevated adrenaline (epinephrine). Again, both the guilty and the innocent would have fear in such a setting.
Mr. Zimmerman's elevated anxiety increases both the rate and depth of his breathing. Several (but not a lot) deep swallows are also noted. These are also normal physiologic changes in this context.
At the 1:05 - 1:06 time-mark, Mr. Zimmerman's temporalis muscle on the sides of his head tighten (contract). This is visibly centered in front of and slightly above the ears (only his left side is visible). It occurs because he clenches his jaw. With this one exception, George Zimmerman's mouth/lips/tongue/jaw demonstrate very little activity and remain relatively neutral during this video. This calm is unusual and tends to suggest that Mr. Zimmerman has a higher degree of confidence that he will be found innocent.
In summary, from a body language point-of-view, George Zimmerman's first court appearance demonstrated a mildly increased level of anxiety which - either guilty or innocent is very expected in such a scenario. Indeed, most people would display more stress than Zimmerman is in this setting.
Mitt Romney thinks he's smiling. Believe it or not, when the vast majority of people make this expression, they believe they are making a slight smile. Paul Ekman terms this a "Bitter Smile". This particular concave-downward appearance of Mr. Romney's mouth is a fantastic demonstration of how, when we are experiencing strong emotions - particularly negative ones - we are do not have accurate "Emotional Proprioception".
The former MassachusettsGovernor's lips are turned inward as well (an "Inward Lip Roll", aka ILR), indicating he's trying to control a negative emotional display. It more than leaks out though, and for virtually all observers - while they cannot label and give a dissertation on an ILR, the combination of these two body language signals/cluster leaves them with an intuitively negative feeling.
