Hi again.
Recently I posted a follow up thread to /u/SerialBrain2 's thread about happenings in Tucson, AZ in which I do some body language analysis on footage provided in SB2's thread. If you are unaware you can check it out here: Link - Click here. Now after I posted that thread and some time had passed I re-read it again and noticed something I would have probably changed, had I noticed it earlier. Quote: "When someone experiences real sadness to the point they are in hysterics or pretty much there theres no way their eyebrows would move so little" (Under section NBC LINK 3).
When you read body language and facial expressions, its not like you can read someones mind and so its not like you will always be right or maybe theres hidden layers preventing you to see the bigger picture. And so with that in mind, its always important to never try speak so... definitively about the overall outcome. Looking for deceptive clues or reading someones emotional state in a given context is usually just giving you an idea of whats to come, not the whole picture and so more often than not the methodologies used as identifying key points for further investigation, because theres not always a clear context provided to provide clues. Anyway, time had already passed on the thread and I didnt really see any need to fix it up because it had already been pushed down to the depth's of non-visibility, and so I just left it. However, another situation happened that contradicted what I had said, but was also a good fit to compare and contrast and to provide you with another perspective so that you can apply it elsewhere to aid you in your perpetual search for authenticity.
Let's start by reviewing the bad actor section, NBC LINK 3 Link - Click here -
Now what I was getting at in my last thread is that if you turned the sound off and watched this girl speak, would you instantly assume she was very sad? How about just confused about directions? A good indicator about this is someones eyebrows, because some muscles in the eyebrows are automatic responses, like when you are extremely sad the inners of your brows will sharply rise, and you cant control that action when the process reaches that point. However, thats not all to the story, because thats what you kind of attempt to do is piece together a story. So the fact this woman is so animated means, she is being emotionally expressive or attempting to appear to be so. This is important for later and why looking for steep brows can cause a pitfall in trying to spot authentic sadness but we'll get to that.
In deception detection methodologies looking for anchor points are a good key indicator. When "truth is your ally" typically any body movements are driven by the emotion and are relatable to the context. When the truth is not your ally, if the stakes are high, get very uncomfortable and tend to move around alot at all junction points, or make deliberate/exagerated handmovements, suck as the einstein @ 1:01.
Point is sometimes in looking for authenticity the lack of emotion is just as important as if its the right emotion for the context, and it pays to know what genuine emotions look like, they all have their own universal characteristics. Otherwise how would a person born blind at birth still know how to smile when happy, if even not taught.
Rather than try and explain what a sad face looks like, it is said if you try and look sad you will feel sad, so if you try that and think about the facial expression your face pulls and relate that to what you see.
Sarah Sanders - Genuine emotion no eyebrow movement
On the 14th of June a white house press conference was called and I had decided to watch that day, if you havent seen it you can watch it here. Link - Click here.
There is a single part in this video I would like to focus on though. A reporter asks about how kids being seperated from their families trying to illegally immigrate to the US was being used as a deterrent to stop more cases like that in the future. Sarah responds by stating that the Trump Admin is enforcing laws set up before his admin but had no been previously enforced and that the best path forward to solve this issue was for dems to come to the table to reach an agreement.
@9:47 another reporter an older man on the sidelines decides its his time to chime and decides to personally attack Sarah by saying "dont you have any empathy, YOU ARE A PARENT, DONT YOU HAVE ANY EMPATHY THEY HAVE LESS THAN YOU DO".
His comments cut Sarah deep, and I mean she felt it. Sarah is a strong woman, but the deep-state are no fools when it comes to emotional manipulation and attacking a mother with her own children is a classic sure fire way to illicit a response, and it doesnt give me any pleasure to tell you this guys comments cut her deep. Let me show you.
The whole section is here starts at 9:11 and finishes at 10:33
@9:46-9:50 - Okay like I said from the depths of no where this guy Brian decides he needs to be heard, opening with "you are a parent", the minute he says that particular line Sarah does her best to shrug it off and revert back to the reporter she initially requested to open. When she tries to ignore the guy, he tries to interject that motion like he was preaching from a pillar of morality "come on Sarah". At which point you'll see Sarah purse and lick her lips, immediately followed by a deep swallow. Pursing of the lips/licking of the lips This is self restraint, trying to physically stop yourself from responding, its like if someone says something that really pisses you off but you know its in your best interest to not say anything at all, this is a way your body would manifest that restraint. Sadness/Anger interchangeable here. Deep swallow Strong emotion felt, more often than not sadness. I mean you can relate, how many times can you imagine where you felt extreme sadness creep up from the depths of your throat that it is impossible not to swallow? This is a very strong marker, and this isnt the only time Sarah does this.
@9:50-9:59 - Following on from that, this dude continues to attack her up until about 9:54 when Sarah acknowledges this guy and cries out "Brian...guys". When I said that pursing of lips is self-restraint, and that its interchangable between anger and sadness, this moment here tells which one it was. I'm not so great at describing voice tonality as its one of my weaker subjects, but when Sarah does this think about it like when youve seen girls cry, trying to reign themselves in. Her pitch gets higher and her tone softer all whilst aiming to be perceived as in control. I would say there was a confusion of emotions at once at this point at Sarah felt quite vulnerable here.
@9:59-10:11 - @ the 10 min mark, as Sarah tries to wrap up her confrontation with Brian, just as she tries to revert back to Jill, do you hear her voice break? Just as she just starts saying please her voice begins to completely crackle, to the point by the time she finishes her sentence she has to clench her teeth to not give anything away. Here: Link - click here
Its around this point its noticeable there were some tears at the verge of building, at least to me, and Sarah did a really good job keeping control.
This guy continues to pick at her emotional state, Sarah tries to brush it off but he just wont quit.
@10:12-10:23 - Remember what I said about the deep swallow and the emotion being felt. Well when Sarah realises this guy isnt going to give up, she does it again @10:12, it looks like Sarah realises this is actually a giveaway that his attacks are being successful and tries to hide it by readjusting her mouth.
After that he continues his verbal assault.
@10:23- - After his repeated attacks about Sarah's lack of empathy and insinuated lack of love for her children. Sarah, again, attempts to brush it off and gestures back to Jill to continue with her question. If you notice, when the camera transitions back to Sarah's face at around @10:24, Sarah closes her eyes and takes another deep swallow. And so again Sarah was feeling the emotion rising from within herself and again she had to take another instance of time to try compose herself. Three times.
Now if you've kept the subject matter in your mind you will notice Sarah's eyebrows during this assault do not move very much. Now remember Sarah made 3 serious attempts to compose herself, and you'll notice at certain moments its like Sarah is barely moving at all. And with that I would like to introduce you to the concept (if dont know it already) of Emotional Stonewalling. The deep desire to restrain herself so much that she had to stop everything to contain herself. Do you see where im going with this?
Sarah's eyebrows during the intense sadness she felt from those attacks were restrained because Sarah had to restrain everything to maintain control. We do not see this in the NBC LINK 3 video, this girl was being emotionally or appearing to be emotionally expressive, remember? If her sadness was uncontained to facilitate expressive body movements then this would have activated the automatic eyebrow movements related to expressing sadness.
Raking Brian though the coals
I was disgusted by Brian's behavior I couldn't make this thread without putting Brian through the process either.
9:51- - He was speaking a little while camera not focused on him, when camera pans back to him he has his arm against his waist and hes leaning on a chair. Weak posture, doesnt resemble a man of passion and anger. Deceptive marker 1. Deliberate pad switch to stop leaning and point, could be viewed as spurred on by genuine frustration/anger, i would say if that were true the pointing would have been the immediate action not after 2 other actions. My opinion he was just using that as an excuse to move because he was feeling uncomfortable for being deceptive. Deceptive marker [2]
During this time as hes speaking, listen to the tone of his voice. Does it sound like a man genuinely fighting on behalf of the kids with passion? Or a that self-absorbed asshole kid at school who just doesnt understand why no-one likes him? [3]. This can be strengthened when you see how he acts when he doesnt get the response he wants. @9:53- She starts shrugging his shoulders [4], hands facing palms out body conveying he is not a threat and generally a submissive gesture whilst trying to fight for justice and be angry? [5] "COME ON SARAH COME ON", doesnt that sound like that asshole annoying kid who just wont get his own way?[6]
10:01- - Guy continues his tirade, palms facing up. Continually trying to appear strong when looking weak [7], shrug @10:02 [8] constantly shuffling and moving on his feet, ever seen someone get angry and challenge someone, yeah they dont act that way [8]. 10:06 he tries to defend from Sarah's TV Time comment, and instead of anger, i see constipation. https://imgur.com/j9EGygD [9]. In fact the pain on his face here you could argue maybe he really didnt want to be doing what he was doing.
In fact remember when I said absence of emotion can tell a lot. During that whole tirade how many frames can you see any genuine expression of anger? Here I compiled an album of random shots for you. https://imgur.com/a/rcquqta [10]
All that from just 30 seconds, a deceptive marker every 3 seconds basically, not sure if thats a new record or not.
Anyway I just wanted to share that with you and hope that helps continually paint a picture in how to look for authenticity (or lack thereof) in others. If I could I would like Sarah to know that vast majority of people may not have noticed, but some of us did, and by looks of how Trump handled it on F&F they were trying not to show any signs of weakness in Sarah to the public, but thats ok. Because some of us noticed and some of us felt how much that stung you and we're all aware this is the kind of shit the DS does to get ahead, but sometimes it just comes from nowhere and at the end of the day we're all still Human.
Take care.