This is an image of John Kasich in Glastonbury, Connecticut on 22 April 2016. Scratching or rubbing the back of the head is highly correlated with "Honest Anxiety". That is to say, although Governor Kasich is certainly feeling anxiety here - there is no deception occurring.
Touching, rubbing or scratching the face in particular places (do you know where?) is correlated with lying. It's profoundly important to note that in order to have high reliability, these deception tells should be clustered simultaneously (or nearly so) with other nonverbal signals, paralanguage and verbal language. However, when these MAPs (Manipulators, Adaptors, Pacifiers) involve the back (or top) of the head - or the back of the neck - the anxiety is real - and so is the 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.
See also:
The current Governor of Louisiana's announcement is the most bizarre, low-energy, ill-advised and poorly thought-out modes of declaring candidacy ever seen for such a high office.
The 1:49 second video appears to be some semblance of a family-meeting, yet most of the family for the majority of the time was emotionally uncomfortable - including the candidate. The video seems to be clandestinely recorded. And while, as a campaign tactic, this certainly won't win him points with privacy advocates - it is creepy across the board (and whose foot is that on the far left of the video?).
The person we see the least of all is the Governor himself - as he positioned himself behind a tree limb. From a nonverbal perspective, this sends very strong signals of emotional dissonance - like a child hiding behind his mother's skirt at a public gathering, not wanting to be fully seen. This nonverbal alone projects very low confidence. In addition - it's a fundamental nonverbal axiom, that the less we see of a person - the less we trust them - which of course is congruent with the apparent secrecy. If he wanted to use such a video, he should have been seated facing the camera.
For about 5 seconds (0:30 - 0:35) the Governor leaned forward in his chair (when he said to his two sons not to tell to anyone at baseball or soccer - more than a bit ironic - holding his children to a different standard and letting everyone see this).
Mrs. Jindal maintained a position in the middle of her chair - not against its back, yet not fully forward either. Along with her hands hiding below the table - this cluster projects low emotional comfort and non-disclosure. She felt "on display" and with high likelihood had foreknowledge of the video. The Jindal son at the right was the only one seated significantly forward. He was also the only one with his hands above the table. The Governor displayed low-trust and high anxiety with his hands on the front of his thighs (briefly on his knees) throughout the video's duration. This MAP (Manipulator, Adaptor, Pacifier) would also be a huge red-flag if this were a business meeting or negotiation.
If both parents would have been seated-forward at the table (taking a cue from their one son), then the other children would have been more engaged. This would also been more and engendered affection. Hugs, hand holding, high-fives, smiling and sincere laughter would have been spontaneous. The laughter here was in large majority nervous and lacking sincerity.
0:41, just after Gov. Jindal says, "... we have decided that we will be running for president this year."
Yet very low energy was projected by everyone.
0:45
Thumbs-up illustrator given by the son in the bright yellow-green shirt. He also appears to have a sincere smile when his mother asks, "What do you think about that?"
The Jindal's daughter displays a "hand-shrug" when her mom asks, "What about you?" - at 0:48.
In this context this body language indicates she isn't sure or she doesn't care. If the Governor wanted to show his children as part of this announcement for his candidacy for President of the United States - there's absolutely no way this universal nonverbal display should have been included.
In summary, Bobby Jindal sent strong signals of low confidence, low trust and secrecy on an occasion when he should have been projecting high confidence, assertiveness and openness. Moreover the family image and/or idea of the Governor as a loving family man backfired big-time with this heavily botched announcement.
Rep. Peter King (R-NY) is interviewed in the above video where he speaks about Grover Norquistand a pledge not to raise taxes. Rep. King surely has contempt for Mr. Norquist which he expresses nonverbally several times throughout this segment. At 1:19, King says, ".... that fact that he brought my wife into it, he's never, I don't think he's ever met me, he's certainly never met my wife - and he better hope he doesn't - she'll knock his head off." A classic body language facial microexpression of contempt can be seen clearly, albeit very brief (as are all microexpressions) on the left side of his face at the 1:26 mark just after Mr. King says "...off".
James Carville, a well-known political consultant and lead strategist for Bill Clinton in 1992, gives a monolog in this CNN video clip wherein he discusses his view of where the electoral college stands, his definition of swing states and which of those states are particularly important. Early in the video, he says, ".... I do not count Pennsylvania as a swing state, because if the Democrats lose Pennsylvania - they lose the election ...." then at the 0:17 mark he rubs his upper "mustache area" adjacent to his nose with his right hand. This nonverbal display upon making a definitive statement during an interview/monolog setting (or if he were answering a question) indicates that he does not believe his own statement. His body language shows us that there is a level of deception here - either Carville is lying to himself or to the audience.
Notice at the very beginning, Mitt takes a couple of very short shuffle-steps towards the lectern, then he elevates up on his toes two times. This nonverbal is highly indicative of excitement-anxiety, or "good anxiety". Mitt stands with his feet too close together though. Many people make this mistake. While this feet together stance is indicated for displaying respect, deferential behavior and beta emotions at funerals, weddings, receiving remains, ceremonies at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and greeting major religious figures - the vast majority of other scenarios such as speeches and debates are settings where alpha-assertive behavior is needed and expected. Here, Romney's feet should be about shoulder's width apart. This posture will project more confidence, assertiveness and other alpha behaviors expected of a presidential candidate. Moreover feet-apart body language will directly engender all of these feelings in the speaker's emotional-brain and thus positively influence the ease, fluidity and power of the speech.
While the background certainly provided good dark-light contrast to Mitt's suit (a detail missed by Richard Nixon prior to his first debate with John Kennedy; see also: A Watershed Body Language Moment: Nixon-Kennedy Debates 1960) the many shades of blue-grey were heterogeneous and distracting as was the large print behind Mr. Romney.
The less we see of a person, the less apt we are to believe them. This nonverbal principle is a very important one and here is one key place to apply it. The lectern used at the republican convention was a wide wooden one. A clear, plexiglass lectern would have been wiser. This simple switch would have translated into greater trust, likability and votes. Mitt - never waste an opportunity to build rapport.
The former Massachusetts Governor has a problem with a relative lack of use of his hands. He also has a very bad habit of putting his hands in his pockets when speaking or during debates (which is a signal of emotional dissonance - it destroys rapport, erodes confidence and cost him votes). Somewhere in his distant past an ill-advised mentor may have told him not to use his hands while speaking. Such advice is dead-wrong. Of course, a person can gesture with their hands too often or too dramatically. It's also a faux pas to use them incongruently with the spoken words and vocal tones. In the nomenclature of body language, these movements are termed "illustrators" - because they emphasize, highlight and underline the verbal messages. The face and other parts of the body may also act as illustrators. When properly used - they build credibility, rapport and attention. They will also even increase the memory-recall of the audience. Mitt's use of hands was a bit better at the convention than usual - although he has a lot of room for improvement. Romney's hand gestures in previous speeches/interviews dramatically contrasts his enthusiasm and credibility for the subjects being discussed - see also:
When Mr. Romney gets nervous, he has a strong tendency to speak with an asymmetrical mouth - using the right side of his mouth much more. He did this throughout much of his acceptance speech. And although not the case here, when clustered with other nonverbals, an asymmetrical mouth during a speech or conversation can be a signal of insincerity.
Throughout much of his acceptance speech Mitt smacked his lips at the ends of sentences. This is relatively new body language signal for this candidate. It's a paralanguage-nonverbal amalgam that here is a signal of confidence and assertiveness.
Mitt - overall your body language in your acceptance speech indicated a relatively good sincerity quotient - however you squandered this opportunity to build rapport and votes. You need to improve signicantly, particularly for the upcoming debates. Mitt - give me call me.
Rick Santorum suspended his campaign for the U.S. Republican Presidential nomination today. At the 0:06 - 0:07 mark-time in this video, Santorum displays a forward head and neck movement as he looks down that's moderate in frequency and amplitude (acquiescence). It has a twisting motion to it and it finishes-up with a forward-bounce component. There is also bilateral eyelid closure (emotional blocking-trying to wipe it from one's mind) occurring at the 0:07 second mark. Together with the asymmetrical (more pronounce on Santorum's right, so there's an element of contempt here as well), thinned-lipped, pulling back of the corners of his mouth (at the 0:10 mark) - constitutes a nonverbal cluster consistent with that of bitterness-regret-acquiescence.
This is former U.S. Senator and RepublicanPresidential Candidate hopeful, Rick Santorum during a political rally recently in Illinois. Notice the tension in his hands and the corresponding tension in his mid-face and mouth. If there are negative facial emotional displays - there is a very high correlation with tension in the hands. They tend to strongly mirror each other. The reverse is also true. If the face is relaxed - the hands tend to be tranquil as well. This nonverbal tell is particularly valuable during negotiations, sales and in similar contexts. Frequenting cross-checking these two areas will help to nuance your body language interpretive skills.
Looking more carefully however, we can see where most of the entire left side of the former Presidential candidate's face is mildly (and in some places moderately - such as his forehead) consistently less reactive. Indeed, Mr. McCain's smile is even slightly asymmetric (when he smiles with his right side, the left corner of his mouth droops slightly). These are common manifestations of a peripheralcranial nerve VII palsy (the "Facial Nerve"). When all other possible causes of such palsies are excluded (thus referred to as a "diagnosis of exclusion") - this finding is commonly referred to as "Bell's Palsy". Other video of Senator McCain seems to validate a facial nerve palsy.
Although there are other nonverbal signals displayed by John McCain in this video, the valuable lesson here is - if one doesn't look at the whole face (and body), or bases the body language analysis on too small of a temporal "sample size", an erroneous conclusion often will be made.
One measure of anxiety is how often a person blinks. Men tend to blink a bit less often than women. When the heath of the eyes are good and the air is adequately humidified, men on average blink once every 7 - 8 seconds whereas women on average blink every 5 - 6 seconds. There is a fair amount of variability between one person and another though. But if the rate of blinking increases - or if in an absolute sense, the blinking frequency is high, this is a very reliable body language signal of nervousness.
In this video segment in the Republican Presidential Debate last night, the four remaining candidates can be seen introducing themselves. Ron Paul first, followed by Rick Santorum, then Mitt Romney and finishing with Newt Gingrich. Paul's and Gingrich's blink rate were not increased over baseline normal. However Santorum's and Romney's blink rate are dramatically increased. All four candidates have considerable debate experience as well as national television exposure .... so why are two of them nervous? Since Romney and Santorum are the front-runners and most pundits feel that one of these two will most likely be the Republican Presidential candidate - one conclusion that we can draw, is that Mitt and Rick have the most to lose by a poor performance. After all, Super Tuesday awaits.
Blink rate can be used to assess nervousness in other contexts. When a person tells a lie, especially if the ramifications of being caught in the lie are more extreme, an increaseblink rate is a very reliable indicator of their level of anxiety.
