The Inside Edition interview went great! If you missed the airing on January 22nd, click here for the online article about my comments on Clinton’s and Obama’s body language, in the democratic political debates.
As far as Obama is concerned (I hesitate saying this coming from an academic perspective), he is the scariest candidate I have analyzed in over 20 years of doing this work. He is so charismatic and smooth. He changes like a chameleon and really says nothing of substance. When I do an analysis, I may look at a tape over and over, frame by frame, for hours. When I’ve done this with Obama, it almost makes me shiver because he is so good at what he does. He is the Elmer Gantry of politics.
Mitt Romney’s body language is so revealing. Yes, he is attractive and tall, nonverbal factors that normally help to get someone elected. And he is knowledgeable. But he lies a lot. And I know that hits most of us viscerally as a bad thing, so we don’t trust him. In the first debate he had a habit of making positive definitive statements such as “I love this country” while shaking his head no. This indicates that he is lying. He continues to do this “head nod lying thing” in every speech I analyze. I have lots of other specific examples on other parts of the blog, so please check it out.
I was discussing Hillary’s “emotional moment” with the Chilean national newspaper the other day. I believe it gave women something they had been looking for– a WOMAN like them that they could identify with and feel safe voting for. If only Senator Clinton had been authentic years ago. The Chilean journalist said that Chileans love their female prime minister because of her warmth and authenticity. I wish Hilary had thought of this earlier.
I have been analyzing her nonverbal cues for many years and have always thought that she lacks warmth and authenticity. Having done a charted read of this particular piece of footage, the global read is that her overall response to the question showed her being unusually emotional and authentic, not just the few “emotional moment” sentences that most of the media focused on.
For more information on how non verbal cues affect political races pick up Patti’s Body Language eBook.
View Hillary’s emotional moment by clicking here.
In the recent January democratic debates, did you notice Hillary Clinton leaning on the podium and glaring at Barack Obama? Did you notice how long the glare lasted? Well, any glaring eye contact that goes longer than three seconds in the debate shows that the person is thinking “I want to attack because I hate you!” Her leaning on the podium was also a telling gesture. Yes, she did it to look calm and laid back, but you could see the tension in her face, neck, shoulders, and torso. She was leaning hard into that podium to restrain herself from attacking! She was holding in her words by holding her body tight.
Hello Everyone!
I worked with Star Magazine to come up with this amazing piece about celebrities smiling.
I did a smile analysis for each celebrity you see in the picture including Witherspoon, Jolie,
Sutherland, Spears, Lohan, Pitt, Holmes & Cruise. To read the full view click on the picture
below that my Virtual Assistant, Melinda Janicki created!
At the beginning of the recent January democratic presidential debates, I observed Barack Obama showing his feeling of superiority and dominance in the race, based on his “chin up” gestures. He would begin his response to questions by jutting his chin up and speaking. This is an odd expression for a candidate because it makes them appear stuck up, sort of like an old aristocrat or member royalty looking down at the little people. Having your chin and face pointing upward also seems odd because the logistics of the debates require the candidates to physically look down at the questioner. He must have really been feeling like a king, perhaps because of his lead in the polls. This chin up motion decreased throughout the debates as he began to attack the other candidates.
Keep checking here for more body language reads of the presidential candidates.
Last night I was on Inside Edition talking about the January Democratic presidential debates. That show will be up on my web site soon!
One thing that was quite extraordinary was the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. 
Hillary, who until recently has kept her gestures very close to her body, especially during the debates, was poking her finger out towards Obama, symbolically stabbing him with her finger. Obama in turn was sweeping out at Hillary with his arms, jabbing at her with his finger and symbolically shooting at her. There was one piece of the debates where you can see symbolic swordplay!
Obama was both defensive and the most aggressive attacker. He was not only reaching way beyond the bounds of the debating candidate’s normal range, he also physically stepped out from the podium towards Clinton and Edwards to attack. This showed his supreme desire to overpower and dominate and that he had a right to attack. I found that unsettling. Why wasn’t he calm? Why weren’t they all calmer? Keep checking here for more body language analysis of the candidates.
Hello everyone! I would like to share with you two things today. One is to make sure you check out my analysis of the 2008 political candidates. Just click the category or type in a particular candidates name such as, ”Hillary Clinton.” Also, below is a fun article on being photographed for online dating ads written by Amy Spencer for www.match.com, were I am quoted. Enjoy!
ou only get one chance to make a first impression, right? And when it comes to meeting people online, your photo is your first impression, so you want to make sure it’s a great one. To help you snap a flattering online photo, we talked to some experts whose jobs rely on
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knowing how to do it well. These pro tricks will help you take a photo that causes potential dates to stop scrolling and take notice! So grab a pal who’s comfortable with a camera and upgrade your calling card.
The celebrity photographer says: Bathe yourself in the most flattering light
I always suggest using open shade, which means a broadly shaded area, like under a big tree, explains Charlie Langella, who shoots for Entertainment Weekly, Maxim, and Rolling Stone, and has photographed gorgeous women like Jewel and Maggie Gyllenhaal. In open shade, there are no hard shadows and nothing brightly lit, and the soft light is the most flattering to your face. If you’re concerned about wrinkles, lines or blemishes on your skin, Langella says you can correct your so-called flaws with the very basic version of reflective equipment used by the pros: Place a white sheet beneath you to bounce the light up to your face, says Langella. This fills in the lines and wrinkles and naturally smoothes out the surface of your skin. And for another soft touch: Put your camera on the cloud/cloudy setting, which adds yellow and red to the image, warming your face up. (In some cameras, the snow setting creates a similar effect, to tone down the harsh bright white.) Finally, here’s one last trick that professional photographers use: Have someone take the photo of you from slightly above eye level, with the camera tilted down about 10 degrees, says Langella. This elongates the neck and makes you look slimmer, and it also creates the attractive image of you looking up through your lashes “very come-hither!
The body language expert says: Keep your heart front and center
Aim your heart and your palms toward the camera to send the message that you are open and receptive, says Patti Wood, an expert in body language and communication dynamics (www.pattiwood.net). If you hide your hands say, in your pocket or behind your back, the primal wiring in the brain sends the signal in one to two seconds that you’re hiding something something dangerous, Wood says. This is especially true in terms of how men perceive a photo. Guys are hunters. They don’t want to go after something that looks like it will be closed or dangerous. They want to know you are open, and there is a possibility to catch you. And here’s one more trick from Wood that you can use just before you click the shutter: Make funny faces, then turn toward the camera and smile. This will create a true smile, instead of the smile we have when we wait, wait, wait for a photo to be snapped, and the smile becomes stiff and fake. A true smile is much more engaging.
The photo editor says: Steal a pose from the celebrities!
If you want to look your best in a photo, take some cues from the people who really know how to strike a pose on the red carpet: celebrities. The best photos are the ones when you’re in action in some way, because everyone looks fantastic walking with energy, and it looks like you have a lot going on, explains Julie Stone, Glamour magazine’s photo research director, who filters through thousands of celebrity photos a day to find the best ones for the magazine. Stone’s ultimate examples? Rene Zellweger puts her hands on her hips and looks over her shoulder, which shows confidence and a little mystery. And Halle Berry always looks perfect on the red carpet. She also puts her hands on her hips and does a lot of laughing, If you’re laughing,
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it looks like you’re having a fun, happy life, says Stone. It makes people think, What just happened, and, wait, where was I? And that’s exactly what you want people to think. You can either use a full-length (or almost full-length) shot like this for a secondary photo, or zoom in on your face and use it as your primary photo. Finally, try this trick that women’s magazine models use all the time: Instead of looking into the camera, says Stone, look off to the side. It’s always cute and flirty, and it adds a very mysterious vibe.
The dating expert says: Post photos that show you in your natural environment
Don’t try to do yourself up with hair and makeup to look sexy, because men can see through that as being artificial, says Ian Kerner, Ph.D., author of D.S.I.: Dating Scene Investigation. Instead, be natural and be yourself, and let your secret sexiness and a little mystery come through. But don’t give guys too much mystery. If you only have photos that show you from the neck up, or photos that are taken from very far away, men will wonder if you’re hiding something, says Dr. Kerner. Don’t hide who you are. Take a full-body shot in jeans and a T-shirt and be confident about what you’ve got. Finally, put up a few photos that show you with friends or family. Social networks are a large part of why we mate, explains Dr. Kerner, so seeing photos of you within your social world really gives men a sense of who you are. Oh, and one more thing, says Kerner: Keep the guys (read: competition) out of the pictures! He may be gay or an ex or just a good friend, but men don’t care about those subtleties. All they see is a woman who’s taken, which will make some guys back off and look elsewhere.
The advertising creative director says: Put some real emotion into the shot
The best shots are the ones where we catch a bit of spontaneity, so they don’t look like a staged and stiff portrait, says Pam Clinkard, a freelance advertising creative director, who has worked as creative director at Kirshenbaum Bond and Partners in New York City, and as art director Saatchi & Saatchi in London. Also, go for the side-lit shot from a window. We were doing some Target ads a few years ago and every single shot was taken with the model posed at a 3/4 angle to the camera, and lit softly from the sides and from above”the same type of light you can get from standing inside next to a window. Like Langella, Clinkard says this is the most flattering to your facial features.
The cover photographer says: Give yourself a wide-eyed expression
Before an interview I did with celebrity photographer Mark Seliger at his studio in Manhattan, he’s the one famous for Rolling Stone covers like the one of Jennifer Aniston in nothing but a sheet, I was able to watch him work. To create an engaging portrait, Seliger had his female subject close her eyes while he set up the shot, then he counted, One, two, three! On the count of three, she opened her eyes just as he snapped the photo. This captured the moment when her eyes were wide and bright, creating an open, doe-eyed look. If it works for the pros, it can work for you!
Amy Spencer writes for Glamour, Real Simple and Harper’s Bazaar among other publications, and she co-hosts the relationship talk show “Sex Files” on SIRIUS satellite radio’s Maxim channel.
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