Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3247: Barack Obama's Response to Question regarding Revoking Bill Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom - Body Language Tells (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

Today President Obama held a press conference during which he spoke primarily about the Nuclear Agreement reached yesterday with Iran. He did however also answer a question regarding Bill Cosby: ".... And lastly, would you revoke the Medal of Freedom for Bill Cosby?"

The President answered, ".... with respect to the Medal of Freedom, there is no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism. And as you know, I tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of - of cases where there might still be, if not criminal, then civil issues involved.

I'll say this. If you give a woman, or a man, for that matter, without his or her knowledge, a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape, and I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape."

At this exact moment (0:54), right after the President says the word "rape" - Mr. Obama displays an excellent yet subtle and very telling example of both disgust as well as contempt (This image was captured from an angle which affords a superior view to the above video).

The primary nonverbal signals of these emotions displayed here include a mild contraction of the "mustache area" and a flaring of the nostrils - more so on his left. There is also an asymmetric (again biased to the President's left) deepening of his nasalabial folds - along with a slight upward and lateral vectoring of the left corner of his mouth. In addition, the mild partial closing of his upper eyelids in this context is a contempt and disgust amplifier.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3246: Suicide Squad - What Makes Jared Leto's Joker so Frightening? Body Language Tells

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3062: Phylicia Rashad interview regarding Bill Cosby - Body Language Tells 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3022: Bill Cosby's Decades-Long Trademark Look - What Does It Tell Us?  

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 3019: Bill Cosby, Rape Allegations, AP Interview - Body Language Tells 

___________________________________________________________________________________

Leadership Secret # 231: Who is His PR Agent?

The cropped photo displayed above belongs to the face of a major public official. Believe it or not, this is his official public photograph. What specific emotion does this indicate? I wonder who his PR agent is, because this is one of the last expressions you would want any leader to wear. I recently randomly poled 25 people, and all 25, while not all were very specific, they all gave me negative emotional descriptors. It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise successful people - are completely unaware when they are expressing subtle or even moderately negative emotional signals. 

Who is able to read your emotional expressions? What tells are you giving away? Who screens your photos?

________________________________________________________________________________________