The Body Language Expert & Motivational Speaker

Today I was on CNN Headline News and Fox News talking about Senator McCain’s body language as he responded to the New York Times story of his alleged affair with a lobbyist. The big questions were “Did he have an affair?” and “If so, did that result in any improprieties regarding public policy?” McCain’s bottom line was his statement indicating that he did not. Unlike the Roger Clemens testimony I analyzed last week in which Roger was angry and upset and had multiple deception cues (see analysis on this blog), McCain was even and calm in his responses. He was not too calm and restrained and he was not angry. Extremes on either emotional end would have made me suspicious. When someone is lying their behavior usually tends to go to some extreme outside of their normal demeanor.

While McCain did not show clear deception cues he did have a few telling and rather interesting nervousness cues. First, in his statement. “At no time have I ever done anything to betray the public trust … or made any decisions  … anything  … public.  He vocally punched up the words ever, anything, public, decisions and the final public. He also pushed his head forward as he said most of those words. The most punched was the word public on public trust. Politicians and liars choose their words carefully. He didn’t make any DECISIONS to betray PUBLIC trust. This still leaves him an opening to have had actions that betrayed a private trust.

Next, McCain said “I am very disappointed in the New York Times article. It’s not true. He used the contraction it’s rather than saying “it is not true.” Liars tend to want to emphasize the is not, but in this statement he used the contraction of a truth teller. In the next question, I wondered if his staff had talked to him about appearing to be too close to a lobbyist. He nodded his head no first, and then said no, showing his feelings before speaking his feelings, which is an indication of honesty.

When asked, “No meeting (with staffers about it) ever occurred?” he again shook his head no, then said no and as he did, he showed this one small tell of anger, shutting his mouth tightly to hold in his mad face, and then his cheeks puffed up with surprised anger. When asked, “Did you ever have such a relationship (romantic), he shut his eyes said no, shut his eyes again, then grimaced. Here he was showing his displeasure with being asked the question, but there were no clear indications of deceit.

When asked, “Do you feel that in terms of your relationship, you were closer with her than with others?” he responded by shaking his no and simultaneously saying no, and his voice got softer on the no, showing there may have been a question in his mind about what closer relationship might mean. (Think of the significance of Clinton’s word choice, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”) But even these cues did not show any clear deceit on McCain’s part. 

As he talked about the letters he wrote to the FCC, his voice and body language were calm, again not restrained or overly tense as he explained why he did nothing inappropriate. He certainly was telling the truth about that.   

Good Afternoon!

I was on a panel on the Fox Business Network this morning deconstructing Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and Sec. of Treasury Paulson’s body language. The feed from Atlanta was late so you have to watch the piece a while to catch me. The video is below or check out all my videos at http://www.pattiwood.net/program.asp?PageID=5396. Also see my very ROUGH notes below the video for more body language insights on Bernanke.

My very rough notes.
 
Bernanke nonverbal cues Thursday should defeat and a lack of energy even compared to his delivery as recently as January. Yesterday his posture was slumped his head was down like a turtle in its shell and his voice which normally is monotone lacked even more energy. He certainly did not send a message of hope and confidence.
Throughout his presentation he had his arms folded in front of him one arm resting on top of the other in a defensive fortress making him look I dream of Jeanie whishing he could blink away our problems. .

Specifically, when he said, “Provide insurance against downside risks… He closed his eyes indicating he is very fearful of that downside risk,

When he said today inflation risks remain well anchored he closed and blinked his eyes again showing he fears inflation risks are not well anchored.

I a tremendously revealing statement, Bernanke misspoke and said. “The Fed’s inflation flighting credibility” rather than “Fighting credibility.”  In deception detection that misspoken word shows in his subconscious that even he thinks the feds flighty. Perhaps he wants to fly away!!

Each time he said the word growth he gulped the word in and his voice volume went down significantly. This was true even when he said, “The base line outlook showed a period of sluggish growth.” He gulped on growth!

Paulson when interviewed in January interview was doing tongue thrust at … on the tough questions and expansive gestures cannon shooting at him.
When responding to wall street journal criticism of the package he shot his gun when he was caught with tape just four months ago saying “ I believe the economy will grow” he showed his great defensiveness by blinking rapidly doing a tongue eraser to erase the truth he wanted to say and then gulping and saying, “ I don’t want to appear defensive…I still think it is growing .

Normally Secretary Paulson has expansive body language yesterday he was stuttering much more than usual and was rapid blinking in his interview. Though his testimony before that he chose to speed through like a cartoon character on caffeine.

When he said, “The budget deficient longer term… he did a toungue eraser. His Paralanguage vocal cues were honest and sincere in his applause to Bernanke.

Strongest cues showed he is fearful of market turmoil and minimizing the impact on the economy by sucking in lower lip and biting down hard and holding it there.

When being asked his “Comfort level now with the state of the bond insurers” Flash gulp retreat looking down Retreat in Fear and horror retreated pulled back his upper then recovering quickly saying we are obviously watching it very closely while shaking his head no indicating it is not obvious.
Announced yesterday a new initiative to help American facing foreclosure he started rapid blinking shook his head no

Interesting miss speak on the initiative “if you are loosing your home in fore closure you call and provide enough information that the lender can make a MISTAKE ( hmm guess he felt some lenders in this case have made some mistakes.)

Let me begin with a general observation about the nonverbal aspects of Roger Clemens‘ responses in his hearing today. Then I’ll comment on his body language at several specific places in the press conference. Clemens demonstrates quite a few nervousness and aggression cues in his testimony and several times his gesture clusters and verbal cues indicate deceit.

At one point a congressman describes the barbecue as a key event and says that the Jose Canseco’s testimony disagrees with Clemens. Clemens shows what I call a tongue eraser, i.e. he sticks his tongue out slightly to his left and sweeps it to his right, indicating, I believe, that he wishes he could erase his lie about the barbecue.

When asked, “Do you think you could have gone on to the barbecue after the golf?” Clemens, gives what I call a drawbridge tongue and thrusts his tongue straight out, then quickly draws it up and into his mouth indicating he is not going to be forthcoming in his next statement. He quickly follows that cue with a downward grimace indicating his painfully sad feelings about this whole thing. Then he looks down to the right, a neural linguistic cue that he is trying to create a response, to making it up rather than recalling what happened. The pause before he responds lengthens also, indicating that he needs time to make up an answer rather than quickly recalling the event. Then the first thing we hear is him saying “Um.” This vocal filler shows nervousness and can be a sign of deceit. Then he says, “I don’t know.” This is what respondents typically say or are coached to say when they don’t want to tell the truth and fear being caught in a lie. If you want to tell the truth, a much easier answer is a simple yes or no. Finally, after he speaks he gulps, which indicates what he just said is not going down well and could also be an indication of deceit.

Immediately after Clemens says “I take B-12 and other vitamins just about every other day” he sweeps his tongue out across his mouth indicating that he just lied. That’s so odd–does it mean he takes vitamins more or less often or that he takes something else?

Article Continued…

I am so excited to share this link with you! Check out this piece on BBC.com. I would love to hear your feedback, don’t forget to come back and leave your comments about the article!

The kids do look happy, and the youngest child, Blanket, has a wonderful impish smile on his face. Prince Michael and Paris show natural excitement and anticipation. They each are holding their chins up and jutting them forward, their eyebrows are up, their eyes are open wide, and their cheeks are lifted upward in happiness. I especially love that they are walking normally with their their heads and bodies are up rather than bent down and protected!

You will notice that Prince has his hands in his pockets, and I think that is a negative, but it is much more normal for a boy his age who is wearing a jacket with pockets to do that. Notice how he is holding his arms in a relaxed shoulders-and-elbows-down manner rather than a fearful shoulders-and-elbows-up or protective posture with the hands stuffed deep inside the pockets and the arms held straight and stiff.

If you will look at photos of Michael’s eyes when he was young, and compare them to the photo of Paris and Prince you will notice they have the same unusually large eyes. As for body language mannerisms, if you had tighter shots of all three of those smiles, you would see the similarity in how the upper lip hitches up part way and lower lip pulls up. People do this when they are showing restraint and need to protect others from seeing all their true feelings.
It seems obvious but it is not the same as a masking smile that covers negative feelings. It’s more the smile of someone who is shy on the inside but is extrovert-ish to protect that vulnerable self. (Can you tell I have done scientific research on smiling and personality?)