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Facial symmetry

Facial symmetry is attractive to us and when the face is animated we look for matching of the each side of the face that is what is going on the right side to match what is going on the left side and matching of the top and bottom of the face. The top of the face from the middle of the eyes up is under less conscious control so if we are looking at someone and the top of the face is doing one thing and the bottom another we may know they are laying or we may just feel uncomfortable.

You’re More Expressive Half

When most people smile or frown, the left half of their face (which is controlled by the right brain) is more emotionally expressive. If you were to cover up half of your face and look in the mirror, you would notice distinct emotional differences in expression. Research studies of people looking at photographs of faces show that when people expose more of their right cheek (the public face) they show less emotion. Exposing more of the left side of the face shows more emotion. When people speak or think emotionally, the eyes tend to dart to the left, and the left arm becomes more active. If someone says, "Let’s talk about it now," the right brain analyzes the paralanguage to determine whether talking about it now will be a fun or perhaps painful experience. And the left emotional side of the face shows it.

Rudy Guiliani's Body Language

Rudy Giuliani on FOX news Hanity and Comes smiles and laughs more than the rest of candidates. He does this often after self deprecating statements. The smiles are sincere and laughter relaxed so this would seem to indicate that is comfortable with himself. Of all the presidential candidates I have analyzed his gestures are the most sincere. Watch him and notice that the gestures often come before the words. You may have read in my blog before the sincere feelings come first from the heart and then are shown in are body language and paralanguage and then with say the words that reflect them. The order is feel then show then say. When speaking and standing without a podium he clasps his hands together as he collects his thoughts and then opens them dramatically as the feeling bursts out then the words follow.

His mouth: He uses a mixture of smiling laughing and aggressive weapon like finger pointing when he doesn’t like what he has been asked or what an interviewer says. He is not able to pretend or hold in his emotions.

In two interviews he does a tongue thrust, (where the tongue comes out briefly from the mouth), showing his negative feelings as he talked about Washington administration. It was so interesting to see so many Democratic and Republican candidates showing their disrespect for the current administration with their nonverbal cues.
His mouth goes up on the left side of his face showing he is more emotional than rational in his feelings.

When someone expresses freely around the upper eye and forhead and those expressions “match” the lower part of the face hat we “read” them as being more honest. ( A good reason to be careful of getting botox injections)

Gulliani not only shows a lot of expressiveness in the upper eye and forehead the expressions are a match the rest of his face. Humm. Didn’t know till I read all these candidates that he was the most honest.

John Edwards Body Language

Overall John Edwards is an animated enthusiastic candidate and this combined with his attractiveness make him on the surface a charismatic and appealing candidate.

Nonverbally he quite literally talks out of the side of his mouth. Specifically he smiles and expresses more on the right side of his mouth. This side of the face is controlled by the more logical rational left hemisphere. This pulled up right side of the face is more permanent than Obamas. It shows Edwards is more comfortable being logical and more comfortable when he goes to planned talking points. Talking out of the side of the mouth is a nonverbal aspect I see in other politicians. When someone when we see the twist on the right side it makes it appear that the person is lying and when we see this as a habitual cue or a permanent facial aspect it appears that the person makes a habit of lying. Of course things like strokes can effect facial expression and may effect vice president Cheneys mouth twist.

John Edward eyes open wide and the eyebrows shoot up and his voice gets more animated when he goes to his planned talking points. He also does this unusual movement, he moves upward when he says his preplanned talking points. Specifically, His shoulders come up, his neck stretches up and his head all go up as he gets to a planned talking point.

Presidential Debates

As a body language expert for the last 25 years I was asked by Fox and Friends to analyze the republican candidates last night during the debates. I discussed their nonverbal cues live as a guest on Fox and Friends this morning at 7:15.

There was so much more to say, but specifically I wanted to say that viewers should be aware that “Charisma” factors and other nonverbal elements sometimes override our ability to really hear a candidate’s verbal message.

We tend to look for cues of Credibility, Likeability, Attractiveness and Level of Dominance (Power). I misspoke this morning and said Romney was high on Attractiveness and Credibility, rather than Attractiveness and Likeability. Most critics said that Romney won the debates last night. Well he was the tallest candidate, giving him nonverbal power. (The taller of the last two candidates in the presidential race typically wins.) And he was by far the most attractive candidate. Even his deep resonant voice is pleasing. And he smiles a lot and last night successfully used his smile to not look irritated when Chris Mathews gave him a hard time. Yet he has a habitual nonverbal cue that makes him look like a liar or a least a waffeler on the issues. When I taught interviews and interrogation techniques to law enforcement officers one the key signs that someone is lying is making an affirmative statement while shaking your head no. Again this is a reliable cue of deceit. When the verbal and the nonverbal message disagree we read the nonverbal cue as the honest cue as it is under less conscious control and not as easily manipulated.


Romney does it all the time. I have watched hours and hours of his speeches before last night and couldn’t believe it. Last night Romney said, “The American People are the greatest people in the world.” while he shook his head no. Then followed he followed this statement with something like, “The hearts of the American people are the greatest…”, while shaking his head no. And then said, “American is the greatest nation on earth.” while shaking his head no. Typically, someone who does this habitually lies or often waffles on his statements. It will be interesting to see this and other candidate’s nonverbal cues as they continue to speak.

Presidential Debates

As a body language expert for the last 25 years I was asked by Fox and Friends to analyze the republican candidates last night during the debates. I discussed their nonverbal cues live as a guest on Fox and Friends this morning at 7:15.

There was so much more to say, but specifically I wanted to say that viewers should be aware that “Charisma” factors and other nonverbal elements sometimes override our ability to really hear a candidate’s verbal message.

We tend to look for cues of Credibility, Likeability, Attractiveness and Level of Dominance (Power). I misspoke this morning and said Romney was high on Attractiveness and Credibility, rather than Attractiveness and Likeability. Most critics said that Romney won the debates last night. Well he was the tallest candidate, giving him nonverbal power. (The taller of the last two candidates in the presidential race typically wins.) And he was by far the most attractive candidate. Even his deep resonant voice is pleasing. And he smiles a lot and last night successfully used his smile to not look irritated when Chris Mathews gave him a hard time. Yet he has a habitual nonverbal cue that makes him look like a liar or a least a waffeler on the issues. When I taught interviews and interrogation techniques to law enforcement officers one the key signs that someone is lying is making an affirmative statement while shaking your head no. Again this is a reliable cue of deceit. When the verbal and the nonverbal message disagree we read the nonverbal cue as the honest cue as it is under less conscious control and not as easily manipulated.

Romney does it all the time. I have watched hours and hours of his speeches before last night and couldn’t believe it. Last night Romney said, “The American People are the greatest people in the world.” while he shook his head no. Then followed he followed this statement with something like, “The hearts of the American people are the greatest…”, while shaking his head no. And then said, “American is the greatest nation on earth.” while shaking his head no. Typically, someone who does this habitually lies or often waffles on his statements. It will be interesting to see this and other candidate’s nonverbal cues as they continue to speak.