Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2553: Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama - What their Body Language Tells Us of their Emotions (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Here Ben Bernanke is seen with a classic horizontally straight and thin-lipped configuration of anger (at 1:37, just after President Obama says, "...and one of the most important contributors to this whole process ah has been the federal reserve under the strong leadership of Ben Bernanke. For nearly eight years ah Ben has led the Fed through some of the most daunting economic challenges in our life time...").


Note this facial expression is accompanied by extended blinking wherein the psyche is very briefly trying to suppress and forget the source of anger.

This asymmetric expression has a frown of bitterness on Bernanke's left while a weak false smile is exhibited on his right. This nonverbal signal indicates regret. Body language rookies will often falsely interpret this as contempt (What are the primary differences between these two expressions?) This is seen at 2:15 - 2:17, just after Barack Obama says, "... I want you to know Ben that I am personally very grateful to you  ..."

Janet Yellen, understandably is in a state of heightened adrenaline. She has just been nominated for the Federal Reserve Chair - and she is the first woman for this position. She indeed will be one of the most powerful women in the World.

Throughout her speaking segment, we see fear manifested through significantly bilaterally elevated upper eyelids (What other emotions might some mistake with this finding?). You would be well advised to begin watching carefully the position of others' upper eyelids. Astute observations of these specific organelles are one of the most telling areas of the entire human body.

What other significant nonverbal tells of Ms. Yellen's raises your attention?

See also:

Negotiation Nonverbal Communication # Analysis 1492:  Ben Bernanke's Duping Delight &  Partial Emblematic Slip

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2505:  Marine Jesse Cottle and Wife Kelly  Body Language Expression of Regret and Sincere Smiles

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 No. 2485:  Barack Obama on Next Federal Reserve Chairman -  Anger, Disgust, Regret and Contempt 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2525:  President Obama's Anger in Response to Republicans'  Threat to Shut Down Government & Possibly Default on Debt  In Efforts to Appeal Obamacare 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2371:  Barack Obama & Anger in the Rose Garden -  POTUS's Body Language & the Gun Laws 
 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2475: Anthony Weiner & Huma Abedin Part IV More Sexting Will Surface (Video, Photos)

Anthony Weiner still has more sexting which will surface. The following analysis of the New York City Mayoral Candidate's press conference last week demonstrates this clearly with both his body language and his paralanguage.

Beginning at the 8:32 mark when asked, "When was the last solicitous text message?" Mr. Weiner replies, "Um, I can't sa..., I can't say exactly. Um sometime last summer I think." This reply is loaded full with paralanguage clues indicative of deception.

The following three photos encapsulate the nonverbal components of this ill-at-ease moment. We all collectively wince for Huma in these next few seconds.

This image taken at the 8:36 mark demonstrates Anthony Weiner displaying an aborted "Inward Lip Roll" (ILR). An inward lip roll indicates the psyche's attempt to suppress a significant emotion - usually (and here) it's a negative one. The mouth simultaneously displays components of regret. In addition Mr. Weiner's central forehead is contracted (CFC) indicating a significant level of emotional pain (although in other contexts it is telling for other emotions).

In the photo above and slightly more prominently in the image immediately below (taken at 8:41), Huma Abedin's eye lids are open wider than her normal baseline, in a subtle yet very significant display of fear. Particular in the second photo she is saying with her facial expression, "Please, please, please don't let there be more!"

Asymmetry in the mouth should always be suspect for insincerity. Some people routinely speak out of one side of their mouth and this is their baseline normal (although not the case here). Can you name another interpretation of an asymmetrical mouth during speech?


Weiner's wave-off of last summer's sexting is an effort to temporally distance himself from the event (e.g. "Jeez folks, that was forever ago!" or "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!").

In this last image (captured at 8:43), Anthony Weiner again displays a very brief (slightly longer than a microexpression) signal of regret mixed with a component of anger.

In summary, Mr. Weiner has not come clean regarding all of his sexting. There is more to come. He gave ample nonverbal and paralanguage evidence in these few seconds of very telling video. 

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2405:  Anthony Weiner's Running For Mayor of New York - His Body Language & His Sincerity Quotient

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2469:  Anthony Weiner, Huma Abedin and the NYC Mayoral Race  Body Language & the Five Burroughs, Part I

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2470:  NYC Mayoral Candidate Anthony Weiner &  His Wife Huma Abedin - Body Language Tells, Part II

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2473:  Anthony Weiner & Huma Abedin Part III  When Shoulder-to-Shoulder is broken

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2273:Lance Armstrong & Oprah Winfrey, Part II Lance Gives Away More with His Body Language - He told more Lies

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.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2272: Lance Armstrong's Mia Culpa with Oprah Winfrey  Body Language Part I

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2181: Mitt Romney's Concession Speech - and the Body Language of Lip Smacking

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2156: Barack Obama's Body Language at Al Smith Charity Dinner - Comedy, White Lies and Facial Touching MAPs

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 393: Lying more common while Texting

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2033: Lie Detection, Sergey Lavrov and Syria

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1907: Governor Rick Scott tells a Lie 

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 339: Jon Corzine - When a Lie is Heard or Told

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1548: Trayvon Martin's Death - George Zimmerman and his First Court Appearance 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2260: 'Top Chef' host Padma Lakshmi regarding New Delhi's recent gang-rape, Indian Culture and Sexual-Physical Harassment -Body Language Nuance

Top Chef host, the beautiful Padma Lakshmi recently spoke out regarding the gang rape of an Indian woman in New Delhi. Time for some body language nuance ....

At the 0:02 second mark in this video (and at multiple other times in this short excerpt of a longer interview), she mentions "...it disgusted me", however the classic nonverbal expression of disgust was not expressed on her face at this time. Was she lying? No. First Padma was recounting what she had initially felt/thought upon hearing about the rape. Secondly, although her words said "disgusted", a more general negative emotion (which included many emotions) was conveyed in her body language - that of emotional blocking & emotional processing. For also at the 0:02 mark she displays a prolonged eyelid closure which together in this nonverbal cluster-context is her psyche attempting to block the "memory" of the event from her perspective (exhibition of high empathy) - her hearing about it, recalling her memories of harassment as a youth (which she recounts a few seconds later) when she had lived in India and the empathy she felt/feels for the victim/other similar victims. Ms. Lakshmi's simultaneous head/neck thrust forward as she said "disgusted" and exhibited this prolonged eyelid closure is an example of an illustrator which serves to add emphasis and is also part of this body language cluster. 

Not all prolonged eyelid closure indicates empathy and/or blocking unpleasant memories. Can you tell the difference?

There are several other nonverbal great examples included in this video as well. Freeze frame at both 0:04 very end - at 0:52 and you'll see her eyelids open wider than normal with some mid-face tightening as well as some subtle mouth configuration of fear This body language-facial expression is a display of fear. At this moment she is reliving a memory and re-experiencing a portion of that fear. 

Padma Lakshmi certainly has quite high Sincerity & Empathy Coefficients. She has spent a good deal of time reliving unpleasant memories and to a degree, putting herself in the shoes of the New Delhi gang-rape victim. 

See also:

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

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

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2045: Disgust in New Delhi

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 ....."

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 271:  Bruce Willis' Disgust with very little Mouth Component

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 273:  Anger and Disgust in Azerbaijan

Negotiation Secret # 72 & 73: Christine Lagarde's Disgust & Incredulity

Negotiation Body Language Secret # 457:  Salman Rushdie's Contempt Amplifier

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1525: Up for Auction, Up for Interpretation - Edvard Munch's "The Scream"

Edvard Munch's painting, "The Scream", goes on the action block in New York Next month. Sotheby's expects it to fetch more than $80 Million. The primary emotion being displayed here is that of surprise. There are also components of fear and empathy. It is interesting to note that a more careful translation to English is "Shriek". 

The combination of the highly characteristic widely opened, oval mouth with the eyelids also opened very widely - is classic body language display for the emotion of surprise. The "white and wide" eyes are also consistent with fear. Full palmar (palm of the hand) contact in this context signals empathy - although this would have more fully captured had Munch painted the subject's hands a bit more forward on the face - perhaps even with a partial mouth or eye cover. The eyes (right more so than the left) looking downward-and-to-the-right, adds to the deep emotional tone of this expression. If this were a photograph of a real person, the subject in the foreground would very likely be looking at the rapid unfolding of a tragedy.

See also:

Secret # 617: Ginger White and Herman Cain

Secret # 21: Surprise + Fear + Empathy

Secret # 269: I Just Remembered + Surprise

Updated 3 May 2012 - "The Scream" sold for $119,900,000 yesterday:



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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 871: Mouth Covering Candidate

Sudden mouth covering accompanied by elevated eyebrows, elevated forehead and increased scleral-show (eyes lids opened in a "White and Wide" appearance) indicate surprise-disbelief and empathy. There often is an element of fear accompanying this facial-appearance-hand-gesture as well, although in this particular example of Presidential Candidate hopeful and current Texas Governor Rick Perry - we would need to see either a brief video of this and adjacent moments, or images immediately before and after to definitively identify the emotion of fear.

See also:  Relationship Secret # 21: Surprise + Fear + Empathy

See also:  Leadership Secret # 221: Hillary's Empathy

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 334: Fear and Surprise - as Bulls Beat Lakers

On Christmas Day, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Chicago Bulls, 88-87. In this image of the Lakers' Troy Murphy crashing into the court side audience, there are two primary emotions on display. The lady dressed in black, with the long dark hair, immediately to Murphy's back-left (our right) has her mouth opened in the classic oval-round surprise configuration with a dropped jaw. Her eyes are closed in a protective reflex. Surprise is the briefest of all our emotions. If it lasts longer than a couple of seconds, it may very well have a feigned component - or perhaps is entirely insincere. Although it is difficult to see, the man in the white shirt to her left has his eye lids opened wide and his forehead and eyebrows are raised - also nonverbals indicative of surprise.

On the opposite side of Murphy are both a man a woman with their mouth's in a classic fear expression. It is very possible that just prior to this photo, they both exhibited surprise. The emotion of surprise is nearly always rapidly followed by a second emotion - e.g., fear, anger, embarrassment, joy-happiness, etc.

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