By Patti Wood
Patti Wood is a body language expert and the
author of SNAP: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and
Charisma.
There’s
one moment from last night everyone is talking about: The tense exchange
between Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren after the debate wrapped and
the mics were off. As Warren approached Sanders, he held out his hand. She did
not accept—beginning a 14-second, soundless dance with her holding and wring her hands and him
flat palmed gesturing,
finger-pointing and head shaking.
Let’s
break this down.
As
a body language expert, I have been researching and writing about handshakes
for over 30 years. Handshakes at the beginning of competition are a part of
gamesmanship, signaling, “Hey were friends but, after we shake hands the game
begins and let’s see who wins.” Handshakes at the end of an interaction say
symbolically, “Game over. We are friends again, let’s go for drinks.”
First, we see
Warren give Biden is shaking hands with Steyer an “I am here and powerful notice me” pat on his
outer arm (outer arm pats with the hand on the audience size show dominant
power.) and then Biden turns slightly and they briefly and Warren walks toward Sanders.
Note
how she faces Sanders but stops short and folds her hands in front of her body,
preventing him from shaking hands with her or because she is
initiating engagement at close distance with all her body windows towards him
and only her hands blocking in this way dismissing her. The folded hands, up in front of her chest, and her ever so slightly bowed head
show a certain amount of deference to his power, but also very effectively
block him from fully engaging in a handshake or touch. (With her standing in
this position, a bit far away, body closed, hands clasped together in front of
her, [he can’t pat her to show he is more powerful.) She
doesn’t look mean or rude, but this is her way of saying, “We played the game
and the game is not over. No drinks with you, Bernie!”
He feels her rebuff. You can see him reach out and point downwards towards her several times in admonition and then point back at himself. He is telling her off and you can see that by his emphatic hand’s flat down movement and his energetic head bob downward that’s he it’s a dismissal of her request or statement. He gets slightly closer and pats his right hand down reaching towards her showing her and us that there is a friendship with the intimacy of engagement, [but she keeps her hands interlocked and held high over her heart. Whatever they are discussing it’s emotional and speaks to their friendship because she feels the need to protect her heart. He keeps it up till she flings her fingers up and out to stay stop. We don’t have a full view of her face but see how she is making eye contact and is fully engaged and finally just gives a quick shake no as Bernie turns away. [Anything to say about her facial expression when she does this? Eyebrows up, head shaking?] But, instead, he points his right hand and jabs at her heart like a dagger, flings his hand's fingers out an down to dismiss her and turns and walks away.
I
have been analyzing the before and after handshakes of the debates for
decades, and this is a moment I have never seen because we know they have had a long friendship, we know there
had been a scuff up earlier in the week about Bernie's belief that a woman could
win the race and here was the opportunity for us to see the real relationship
after the debate after the GAME and he didn’t go over to her right away to
heal their riff and she went with boundaries in place. you be specific
about what makes it so unique? Just the fact that there was a standoff? A
handshake rebuff and exchange that lasted so long?] It will also be a lasting one impression for
us as the very last thing a candidate does before our eyes on the screen has
what is called the “recency effect.” It lingers in our memories and has a
powerful effect on our impressions of the candidates. He came across as a
negative and slightly aggressive and she came across a bit better as she sought
the engagement though guarded engagement. Leaving us to think she might have
put down her hands if he had been nice.
We choose our candidates based on their non-verbal
behavior. In a study using Harvard undergraduates who viewed a soundless, 10-second
video clips of unfamiliar candidates, they were able to pick the winning
candidate at a rate significantly better than chance. When the sound was turned
on and students could hear what the candidates were saying, they were no better
than chance at predicting the winner. Certainly, words matter, a politician’s
viewpoint and plans of action matter, but research suggests that the nonverbal
behavior has 4.3 times the impact in a message.
In my book SNAP Making the Most
of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma, I share that the
four factors that affect our impression—of anyone, including political
candidate [—are credibility, likeability, attractiveness, and
power. How did the candidates do?
