https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7qEBIVK4B8
Power is communicated by the amount of space you take, whether
your body is open rather than closed and relaxed rather than tense.
Donald Trump finger points and chops in
weapon like gestures, scowls and grimaces and yells a lot. This combined with
his BIG hair, big head and jaw and height make his imprint as the aggressive
alpha male candidate. In addition, he has a low, growly voice. In
the analysis of the Debates from the past hundred years the candidate with the
lowest voice won. Lower tones in the voice are formed by a larger larynx. Trump
is the lion roaring and that can win over a “nice” candidate. Anger can “trump”
nice.
Other candidates
in the first Republican debates:
Jeb Bush kept his shoulders down and
his arms tight to his body. He looked scared. In many speaking situations
he gives an unfortunate puppy head tilt at the beginning of his answers to
questions. In the last debate he also did an “I give up shrugs” and spoke at a
low volume and gave halting, and half-finished utterance. His body
swayed to give himself comfort rocking motion and head tilts. He needs to be
stronger and more forceful and gesture more broadly.
Ben Carson has beautiful words but
he was not forceful enough in this first debate! Several times he held his
arms out with his palms facing upwards in a gesture cluster I call Holy
supplication. This makes him look submissive rather than presidential. He
should gesture more forcefully and forward. He is open and likable and
when he smiles he is charming but so far he is not quite alpha enough in debate
mode. Open and likable are admirable characteristics but he needs to look more
in control to win viewer’s confidence. The biggest issue in the first
debate is that he holds his head back in and down so he looked like a turtle
fearfully hiding his head. He also gulped down his words, and let his voice
trail off at the end of sentences. He also held his own hands.
Carly Florina has the chance to have a fresh
new image. She has a nice, low voice. Slow and deliberate. Margaret Thatcher
trained her voice to go low when she gave serious messages. Carly has a great deliberate
and low presidential voice. Even if you don't agree with her message her delivery
is that of a leader. When she speaks and says things like. “This is a great
nation” her gestures are small, but lady like. The best thing about her
gestures is that they are in sync. They are authentically given in
what body language and credibility detection reads call a “feel show
say” order. She feels something and gestures from her limbic brain and then
says the words from her neocortex. That feel show say delivery indicates she
truly believes what she says. We hear and see that and we believe her. In fact,
her head even moves in sync. She communicates anger well and rehearsed messages
well. We need to see her being spontaneous and giving inspiring messages.
Chris Christie is folksy and relaxed but gets
defensive easily. Anger does not look good on him.
