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

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) spoke at the Graduation ceremony Sunday at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Hubie Jones, a civil rights pioneer was also honored at the ceremony and Rep. Frank made a joke which many in the audience found offensive. In an obvious reference to Trayvon Martin, Frank joked that, "... and Hubie, I think you now have a hoodie you can wear and no one will shoot at ya ..."

One of the students included in the news video (above) interviewed after the ceremony displayed multiple excellent examples of body language tells of disgust as she also vocalized her opinions of Barney Frank's joke (0:54, 0:55, 0:57 - 0:59 and 1:00 - 1:01). Particular nonverbal facial signals of disgust (most, but not all of which are seen in this example) include: wrinkles (muscular contraction) on the bridge of the nose, accentuated and deepening nasal-labial furrows on the side of the nose, protruding of the lower lip, raising of the upper lip with (+/-) protrusion, tightening of the area between the upper lip and nose (the "mustache area"), flaring of the nostrils, lowering of the eyebrows, crow's feet formation/accentuation on the lateral sides of the eyes, dynamic chin wrinkling and a relaxed forehead.

See also:

Secret # 271: Disgust with very Little Mouth Component

Secret # 1496: Tiger Woods' Disgust and Biofeedback

Secret # 273: Anger and Disgust in Azerbaijan

Secret # 925: Liam Hemsworth's Disgust and Anger

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

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

Analysis # 1491: Barack Obama on Trayvon Martin "If I Had a Son, He'd Look Like Trayvon"

Analysis # 1696: George Zimmerman's Testimony - Fear, Incredulity, Regret & Contempt

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

Tiger Woods is perhaps back on track - and just in time for The Masters. After a dry spell of two and a half years - Tiger won his first PGA tournament late last month at The Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. In this image of Tiger, we see a mild-to-moderate display of disgust. His mid-face tightening of the "mustache area" accompanied by flaring of the nostrils is highly indicative of the display of disgust. Less dramatic (and secondary) body language signals of this negative emotion are seen in the slight dimpling of Woods' chin, the moderate wrinkling between his eyebrows (as well as lowering of those brows) and the parentheses shaped furrows on each side of the golfer's lower nose & mustache area. Collectively, these configurations comprise a cluster of contempt.

Like most high achieving athletes, Woods holds himself to high standards - and is self-critical. Thus this body language/facial expression of disgust is a very common one for Tiger. I put forth the argument, that if Tiger Woods maintained a facial expression closer to being emotionally neutral at such crucial times, this would improve his performance. The same would hold true for any athlete, student, surgeon, sales person, attorney, etc. Greater emotional self-awareness is a natural by-product of nonverbal training & practice and is an extremely valuable, rarely considered and very under-utilized form of biofeedback.

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