Rating the Experts

Below is a five-minute local news video with the authors of a book on body language for job interviews. While most of what they say won't be news to readers of this blog, it's interesting to watch the body language on display during the interview. What sticks out for you? I share my impressions after the video:


Scroll down for impressions:





The first thing I noticed is the (reasonable) nervousness of the male author - he's appropriately using his hands but maybe he's thinking about his body language too much and so he trips over his speech a bit. The tall barstools are terrific for exposing the whole body here - compare the ramrod straight posture, big social smiles and submissive hands in laps of the guests with the upright but more relaxed and dominant bodies and faces of the hosts. Not unlike a job interview!

Note that the male guest mirrors the male host, and the women do this as well. My favorite part was the put-on look of surprise at one point from the female host - it lasts way too long and is a dead give-away that she's not actually surprised but that she wants to convey that emotion to the audience. What did you see?

Slip of the Lips?

Obama Leaks Emotion Over Gates Affair

What does a "pursed lip" mean? In this ABC News article, the author offers the evidence of several body language experts who parse this and other facial expressions for readers.

"I think Obama was disappointed in himself that he got sucked into this," said [TJ] Walker, CEO of Media Training Worldwide. "It's so rare that he does stumble into something. Compared to the last four presidents, he gets off message and sticks his foot in his mouth less often."

Later in the article, FBI profiler Brad Garrett was consulted:

"Lip tightening is usually read as "trying to control their speech or are getting angry," he said. "It makes sense that someone as cool as Obama was probably pissed that he used that one word [stupidly] and that the press made such a big deal out of it."

Crime suspects [and others] bite, gnaw, cover their mouths, put folders over their faces -- all as an "obstruction," according to Garrett."

What do you think? I know I purse and chew my lips all the time, but am not known for my verbal restraint either. Sometimes I notice it in myself and others during times of questioning or decision-making -- or could it be the urge to "keep one's mouth shut" until the answer has been reached?

Read the entire ABC News article.

Disgust

Both Kate Gosselin and Sarah Palin are showing disgust in these pictures. Notice the wrinkling along the sides of Kate's nose and the upper lip moving upwards and showing her teeth.

Sarah is showing a different version of this emotion. It doesn't look like there is any wrinkling along her nose, but the shadows and the bridge of her glasses makes this a bit difficult to determine. However, her upper lip is STRONGLY raised, so strongly, in fact, that she has pushed her lower lip up just as strongly, in order to keep her lips together.

Neither of them like what they're looking at in the moment these pictures were taken.

Kim Jong Il

Older, ailing and increasingly frail? Yes. Still in charge? Definitely:



Other side of the same shot:



Still the boss:



Photos and story at the New York Times.

Philby Follow-up

Interested in learning more about what you saw in Kim Philby's face, and how it all played out?

Read the fascinating article, The Naked Face, by Malcolm Gladwell - the precursor to the chapter in his best-selling book "Blink". Gladwell described the Philby micro-expressions and speaks with Dr. Paul Ekman and others about their experience with face reading.

Find out more about Philby and Cambridge Spies at the BBC and our old favorite, Wikipedia.