Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2016: Hillary Clinton, Roosevelt Island, Building Rapport and Body Language (PHOTOS)

Like any candidate, Hillary Clinton needs to build rapport in order to get votes. People may agree with your policies and these will have already won-over one's political base - yet to win elections and not just primaries, candidates must capture that middle 1/3 of the electorate. And swing voters will vote for those the LIKE - and then rationalize their decisions with intellectual wallpaper. We of course believe we're doing this the other way around, but we're all human beings and that's not the way we operate. In short, to win you must possess - and project - likability. Few politicians truly understand this much past a superficial (and insincere) smile. Both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan knew this instinctively - however Hillary does not.

We turn our whole body - eyes, head, shoulders, hips and feet - towards those we like and/or those we respect. When you're running for high political office - the crowds are huge and of course you can't begin to get to everyone. It takes much more time and effort. You'll end up greeting less people. Yet you will build more rapport - much more. And those who don't get to shake your hand and look you in the eye, will do so vicariously. You'll win their votes. This is another profound version of quality vs. quantity and sincerity vs. veneer.


See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3214: Chris Pratt, Jurassic World, Bad Acting and a Body Language Red Flag

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3212: LeBron James stealing ball from Stephen Curry - then pointing at his Temple

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2426:  Remembering Ronald Reagan,  "Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall"  Body Language at the Brandenburg Gate

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2861: Ronald Reagan and Variations on Thumbs

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2577: Bill Clinton and Terry McAuliffe - Alpha and Beta Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2379:  Bill Clinton's Speech at the  George W. Bush Presidential Library Opening  Body Language of Former and Current President

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2973: Rand Paul's Body Language Tells Us His Plan B for 2016

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3134: Ted Cruz to Announce his Candidacy for 2016 Presidential Race - Why He Will Never Win 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3002: How NOT to sit in the Oval Office - Mitch McConnell ... your Beta is Showing (PHOTO)

Mitch McConnell (R - KY) is poised to snatch the Senate Majority Leader position away from Harry Reid if the mid-term elections favor the republicans tomorrow as many pundits and poles are predicting.

The above image was captured recently in the oval office. From a nonverbal perspective, Mitch McConnell, seated here with John Boehner and Barack Obama, is displaying a variation of a "Seated Fig-Leaf". The body language of a good leader - political or otherwise, projects assertiveness and strength - and a person who is emotionally comfortable. However the Kentucky Senator is transmitting none of these qualities here. In this moment McConnell is feeling intimidated and demure. Such a configuration should never be displayed by any leader unless perhaps meeting with a major religious figure or attending a similar ceremony, funeral, etc. By bearing his beta emotions to President, he projects emotional weakness and places himself and himself at a profound political disadvantage.

Although this photo does not give us an optimal viewing angle, along with the primary components of a fig-leaf (hands clasped or nearly-so over the groin, though here Sen. McConnell seems he is perhaps trying, unsuccessfully so, to project a low conventional steeple), his feet are too close together, his upper arms are touching his torso, his shoulders are hunched and neck foreshortened. This nonverbal cluster shouts "I feel weak".

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2999: Chris Christie to James Keady "Sit Down and Shut Up" - Body Language Congruent with ....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2246:  Harry Reid vs. Mitch McConnell on the Senate Floor -  Their Body Language Betrays How they Feel about  Probability of Fiscal Cliff Deal

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1892:  Harry Reid, "That's a Clown Question Bro!" -  Tongue in Cheek

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2947: Governor Rick Perry - Beta Body Language

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2896: Hillary Clinton - Vladimir Putin Bears Some Responsibility for the Downing of Malaysia Air Flight MH17

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2335: Ted Cruz & Dianne Feinstein - Gun Control, Body Language and Condescending Signals

This video of Senators Ted Cruz and Dianne Feinstein encapsulates a few moments of the current argument regarding gun control. As in all posts on this blog, this is not an instrument of political agenda - rather it is to teach nonverbal communication in a real-world context. Democrats, Republicans, Socialists, Communists and all other politicians are fair game. We all are human. Through our subconscious and sometimes our conscious minds' - we all exhibit and interpret body language constantly.

Throughout very significant portions of this video, Senator Cruz's central forehead is contracted. Sometimes called the "grief muscle", the central forehead contracts when there is significant emotional or physical pain - either being experienced directly or secondarily, for other people(s) or animal(s) via empathy. In the absence of these contexts, it has a very different meaning. At the very best it signifies a contemptuous incredulity, as well as arrogance and smugness. It will have strong messages of a patronizing attitude (and although not implied here with Senator Cruz, over longer time frames - if a person constantly displays this central forehead contraction (CFC) in the absence of such emotional or physical pain - it signals traits of his or her personality - that of insincerity or worse).

So although Senator Feinstein was indeed responding to what she heard, she was also very much responding to what she saw - in Senator Cruz's nonverbal signals of condescension.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2140: Joran van der Sloot's going to be a father -  Body Language Signs of Chronic Insincerity

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2287: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo on Dr. Phil Interview -  Part II - A Body Language Signal that's a Red Flag

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2310: Oscar Pistorius' Body Language in Court - Part II  Central Forehead Contraction, Frown & Pupil Dilation ....

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2171:  Charlie Bit My Finger!  One Body Language Signal Always Seen With Significant Pain

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2259: Game Show Killer Rodney Alcala Gets Two More Sentences - His Body Language Warning Signs

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2124:  This Body Language-Facial Display  Should always make you think "Insincere"

Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1439:  Central Forehead Contraction & Inward Lip Roll  Devon Davis & April Davis

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