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

Self-touching fits into a class of nonverbal behaviors that are known as Manipulators, Adaptors or Pacifiers (MAPs). MAPs are significant body language signals of anxiety. When the area being touched involves the ear, eye, nose, mouth, cheek or anterior (front) neck - there's an even higher correlation with deception. The remainder of the head and neck have a lower correlation with lying.

Jon Corzine, former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, U.S. Senator and Governor of New Jersey testified before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee today. He resigned on November 4th of this year from MF Global, where he was CEO and Chairman since March 2010. MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31, 2011 - the eighth largest in U.S. history. The company is under investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Among other things, $1.2 billion is missing. Hmmm...

Corzine was asked repeatedly during his testimony about the missing money: "I don't know whether this is inadvertent. I don't know whether in the flows of transfers someone held on to some funds," Corzine said. "I don't have the ability other than to speculate where they would be."

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Body Language Secret # 100: Kate Middleton is Pregnant

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William attended a concert for The Prince's Trust held at Royal Albert Hall on 6 December 2011. There they met The X Factor hopefuls Marcus Collins (eight series) and Olly Murs (sixth series), as well as the musician/head judge Gary Barlow - all favorites of the royal couple. Kate wore a $99 dress made by Zara and a jacket care of Ralph Lauren. Zara's Lace Tulip dress subsequently sold-out within 24... World wide!

The real news however is that Kate is pregnant. Although there has been speculation about this, as there naturally would be for any so famous and so attractive a duchess and prince, there's been no announcement - verbally that is.... But Kate Middleton's body language has already made the announcement. Throughout the entire event Tuesday evening, she held her handbag very close to her central lower abdomen in an awkward but classic blocking-protective nonverbal tell - highly consistent with pregnancy. This can also be a body language signal of common low confidence-low comfort - but that clearly doesn't apply to Catherine. 

Most of the time Kate used this blocking maneuver with both arms/hands, however even when one hand was used, her handbag continued to be strategically placed. Its position even remained the same despite the switching of hands. Although she probably doesn't necessarily enjoy it, Kate's grown accustomed to being in the public eye. Alpha females don't carry their purses or handbags in such a manner unless there's a significant psychological or physiologic reason - and make no mistake - Kate's an Alpha Female. An image search for "Kate Middleton purse" clearly demonstrates that it is uncommon for her to carry her's this way - except for recently. In the context of pregnancy, this protective gesture is extremely common, highly predictive and very instinctual. Body Language is hard-wired into our brains and the protective behavior and emotion of motherhood is perhaps the strongest instinct.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 411: Lip Biting with Intense Physical Activity

Lip biting is a nonverbal signal which indicates a number of different emotional states. Like all body language, if you only look for one sign - you will very often reach a false conclusion. This is akin to the multiple meanings of a single spoken or written word. "Hot" can describe a woman's attractiveness, the temperature outside or the taste of a red chili pepper. The need to observe all the nonverbals, the language and the paralanguage - and interpret them together in cluster and in context - cannot be overemphasized. 

In the midst of intense physical activity, lip biting is very common - although there are several other meanings and contexts for this nonverbal. Above, a woman fires an AK-47 into the air in Benghazi, Libya on March 19, 2011.  Below, Tiger Woods has just swung his sand wedge. Both are biting their lower lips. The Libyan woman is, at least partially, in a celebratory emotional state known as "Fiero" upon hearing of Muammar Gaddafi's withdrawl from the city (see  Sincerity Secret # 20: Fiero Feels Good - Mirror Neurons). Fiero can often resemble a state of physical pain or anger. Tiger is also in the middle of a physical act - and the intensity here is primarily highly focus concentration. Both are physical acts - and while one is associated with a great release of emotion and physicality - the other is great focus of emotion and body.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 113: What Blagojevich can Teach Us

When speaking on their mobile phones, those who hold their elbows pointing out laterally or forward-laterally have a strong tendency to be strong alpha personalities. The vast majority of people, hold our phones with the elbows pointed down, next to our sides'. The more often you see this displayed in any given individual, the more dominant the personality. If you see this the majority of the time - it's very possible the speaker has narcissistic personality disorder. It can be seen occasionally with beta-personality people when they are trying to "dial-up their alpha", e.g. when constructively (or otherwise) criticizing a subordinate or asking another out on a date, or when they get some good news, etc. Conversely, you may also see the elbow suddenly point down and retract close to the body when bad news is received.

The reliability of the elbow-out mobile phone (EOMP) body language gesture in indicating alpha and narcissistic personalities is enhanced not only increases with percent of the time it's used, but also with the height of the arm. Sometimes the forearm is held so high, that it is parallel with the ground (or nearly so). Additionally, if a person tends to use the EOMP even in crowded areas, it adds a lot of reliability as a predictor of the over-alpha/narcissistic personality.

This is such a rare nonverbal for females to use, I sometimes wonder if it's an indirect indicator of excessive testosterone. Ergo a bit of dating advice: Ladies - if you desire any semblance of equity in a relationship, run the other way when you see the elbow-out mobile phone nonverbal gesture used consistently. Run. Run fast.

Bye-bye Blagojevich.See you in 2025.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 531: Sarkozy's Mouth Tells Us What He's Feeling

The following photos of French President Nicolas Sarkozy are relatively similar with respect to his mouth appearance - to the unobservant. But it is very important not to "lump" nonverbals together. I want to take this opportunity "thin slice" and contrast these expressions and their underlying emotions.

In this first image of Sarkozy we see deliberate and theatrical doubt displayed. When this extreme mouth configuration is shown, especially with the unilateral eyebrow and forehead contracture (as Sarkozy is doing on HIS right) there conscious and deliberate doubt present. Politicians often use this extreme lower lip "pout" and the "skeptical eyebrow" to telegraph their (often feigned) disbelief. It's melodramatic - but it's the nature of the political beast.

In this second photo of President Sarkozy, we see an "Inward Lip Roll" - in which the lips are being "gently bitten" (compressed) by the teeth. This is highly consistent with significant anxiety. Depending on the other nonverbals it is clustered with, the ILR can also be a signal of attempting to control and/or suppress other negative emotions - such as anger, fear, etc. 

In this third image of the French President, he shows us what some refer to as the "Miserable Smile" (Ekman).  Incredibly, even though this is an "upside down smile" - in the moment this body language is displayed, the person will believe they're making a slight smile. This is a fantastic example of just how unaware we all are of our emotional displays - particularly in the midst of negative emotions. In this variation of the inward lip roll, the lips stay in front of the teeth (rather than "gently bitten" by them as shown in the second image). His gaze is up and to his left, indicating he is probably visually recalling an event. This Body Language cluster strongly indicates Nicholas is experiencing the emotion of regret.

In this forth photo, we see a mouth expression consistent more with anger. The lips are visible (unlike the the second and third examples) but are stretched very thin in a classic (but misinterpreted by most) anger expression. The partially closed eyelids in this cluster-context are highly consistent with contempt-arrogance. President Sarkozy is experiencing anger-contempt in this moment.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 483: Handshake on the 18th - not so fast

Here we see Zach Johnson (left) and Tiger Woods shaking hands after Tiger's first win in more than two years at the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament in Thousand Oaks, California yesterday. Note the angle that tiger is leaning forward into the handshake, while Zach's back is straight vertical - or perhaps even leaning slightly away from Tiger. Corresponding with these postures are the degrees to which their arms' are extended. Johnson was leading with just two holes to go, and Woods passed him and held the lead with consecutive birdies. The leader board tells us the winner, but their faces do not - at least not in this image - for they are both rather stoic. The great nonverbal tell here is this: it's person who is most enthusiastic and upbeat in the moment of the handshake, who will be the one who leans into it the most. If these two men were of equal emotional tone - the angle of the "lean in" and the extension of their arms' would each be mid-way between these two relative extremes. But this is not the whole story....

Too much "leaning forward" during a handshake can be detrimental as well as a signal of other emotional issues. If the two people are standing abnormally far apart - there is a lack of a desire to enter the other's personal space. This can often be a signal of emotional dissonance - and there may be a bit of this here with Tiger. He wants to be friendly, but he doesn't want to overdo it. He wants to be a gentleman, but we all know his recent history. Competing emotions are present - so we see competing signals. If Tiger's recent personal history were rosy, even with a dry spell in his professional life - he'd still be leaning forward here, but he'd be standing closer to Zach, and he'd probably be patting his shoulder.

Standing further apart than average during a handshake, may also signify a person who spent their formative years in a rural setting with a low population density.

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Body Language Secret # 491: Eyes White and Wide

This demonstrator being arrested in the "Occupy Wall Street" movement (here specifically, "Occupy Los Angeles" protest), shows us his eyes in a classic "White and Wide" nonverbal signal. This facial tell is highly consistent with the body language sign of fear. His momentary increased adrenaline, among other physiologic changes, results in both the upper and lower lids retracting, exposing considerably more "whites of the eyes" (sclera) than normal. If we were close enough, or this image was of higher resolution, we would also see his pupils dilated wider than usual - also consistent with the emotion and physiology of fear. This eye finding may also be seen with the emotions of extreme anger (rage) as well as that of surprise - however if either of these were present, there would be additional changes evident on his face.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 359: Last Stop for the Cain Train

Herman Cain has been a great subject lately for Body Language Analysis and this short video is particularly instructive. I cannot recall a potential Presidential Candidate ever giving a speech wearing sunglasses. In this context, it strongly demonstrates distancing and blocking behavior. Mr. Cain doesn't want to the audience to make eye contact with him. Given the accusations, his polling numbers and the fact he's about to quit the race - this not too surprising.

At the beginning of this video when Cain says, "I am at peace with my God" and, "I am at peace with my ....Wife", he uses what some call the "Finger Point-Hand Chop" (FPHC), (It is more than a bit intriguing that Mr. Cain stutter-pauses just prior to saying "...Wife"). His index finger is extended and pointing with the rest of the digits closed in a fist-like configuration with the added "wagging"/up-and-down motion of the entire hand/arm. In this context, he's using the FPHC to passionately drive home his point and this hand gesture is quite common in such settings - although very ill-advised. Virtually all people will feel threatened when this over-the-top aggressive gesture is directed their way. It is overly used by strong alpha personalities and/or those with narcissistic tendencies.

In some settings (but here not in this video of Mr. Cain), such as when one is being directly confronted regarding possible deception or during testimony - the FPHC is strongly correlated with lying. You may recall President Clinton using this same gesture when he was denying allegations concerning Ms. Monica Lewinsky (see: Change the person, time and circumstances a bit ....) - or when Raphael Palmeiro denied his use of anabolic steroids at his testimony before congress.

When he is speaking, Mr. Cain has a habit of moving his mouth and lips in a considerably asymmetrical fashion (he"speaks out of the side of his mouth"). Most everyone will correctly interpret this facial signal as one of insincerity. Those who use this facial-gesture, are attempting a form of "verbal-nonverbal" swagger. While it may have this effect in short, well-placed moments - Herman, and many others, dramatically overuse it. Search your memory, whenever this technique is being used in a movie - the actor, script and director are all clearly trying to send a similar message.

At the 0:55 mark, just after Cain says, "....I am suspending my Presidential Campaign .....", he briefly (although here longer in duration than a microexpression) displays a classic bitter-regret frown expression.

Throughout the the majority of this video, Herman Cain had a superimposed highly characteristic expression of emotional pain - a frown with the contraction of his central forehead. No doubt most anyone in his shoes would be wearing a similar expression. Last stop for the Cain train.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 351: Never let 'em See You Sweat

The old adage, "Never let 'em see you sweat" is great advice and should be taken to heart by all - particularly leaders. You don't have to be an expert in nonverbal communication to know what Herman Cain is wiping from his brow. What's not so obvious though, is the position and corresponding meaning of Mr. Cain's lips. Here the potential U.S. Republican Presidential candidate shows us a great "Inward Lip Roll" (ILR). The ILR is a very common and reliable body language sign for anxiety. It very often also signals a concerted effort to control a negative emotional crescendo and corresponding display.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 391: Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is show here hugging Myanmar's (Burma's) pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese leader is the winner of numerous awards including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Although the two women have not known each other very long, their new friendship is quite sincere. Three classic signals of a truly affectionate hug are clearly demonstrated in this image: head touching, eye closure and full contact with the palms of their hands. A sincere embrace is very difficult to fake, and friendship among leaders is all too rare.

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