Former FBI Agent Breaks Down Political Body Language | WIRED

Politicians realize that the non-verbal is important and, therefore, when they choose an outfit, when they choose how they are going to go out, whether they are going to smile or shake hands, one thing I can assure you: this has been rehearsed many times. . Sometimes it's theater, it's absolute theater and one of the things we'll look for is how well these actors do their job. My name is Joe Navarro and for 25 years I was a spy hunter in the FBI and I am non-verbal. communications expert as we approach the height of the

political

season the question I get asked is: do you know what you look for in the

body

language

of the people who will be in the debate?

I look at everything that is involved because we have to look at all the non-verbal expressions that we always notice when the candidates come on stage, they are always waving at someone in the audience or pointing their finger etc., sometimes these are actually fake gestures because They know that the public's cameras will take pictures at any moment. a big gesture and therefore they may do these things without regard for anyone. You will notice that debaters are rarely allowed to stand or sit close to each other, there is usually at least seven to ten feet of space and the reason for this is the debaters.

We actually don't want you to see that there is a difference in height, so by separating the two individuals we don't notice that difference, you will see an unusual amount of blue color in the background, somewhere between the color of the ocean and the sky that It is comforting to the human brain to wear a navy suit, white shirts, often a red or burgundy tie. We unconsciously see the meaning of that because it is what we see in the red, white and blue American flag that has truly become ubiquitous. the American flag lapel pin this is something that 30 years ago even 20 years ago we barely saw but now it is almost part of our clothing you know if you think about it it is someone less patriotic because on this day they do not wear the American flag flag, of course that no, this is approaching you on a subconscious level, it is part of the theater, part of the orchestration that we now demand, we are looking for your behaviors to see if they are consistent with what we have seen in the past, we certainly should not use the

body

language

to try to determine if they are telling the truth.

These are orchestrated events and for that we do not use body language. We use body language to complement and confirm that what we are seeing are the words supported by the gestures. or there are gestures removed from their words what I look for is when the moderator asks a question I see lip biting I see some type of venting behavior like pulling on the collar I see some type of facial discomfort I see in fact, they can take care of it if you stay out of the road. oh, really, here, oh, really, here's something nice that might tell me that the individual doesn't like the question being asked.

Another thing I look for is any kind of doubt, clearing your throat, are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists? You prepared, perhaps, to raise a shoulder, lower a shoulder, take a step back and defend whatever it is that convey lack of confidence, I want to see the hands. I want to see those thumbs that appear because when we have confidence, the thumbs appear when we lack confidence, they go down. I want to see if there is any kind of steepening. The steepening is a high indicator of confidence or we see the interlacing of the fingers, which is: I'm struggling with something or I'm having difficulties, one of those that you might not even think about, nothing will ever be said, but you will see behaviors like the light touch of the eye with the tip of the finger.

It is both a blocking behavior and a comforting behavior. One of the facial nerves that serves the eyelid, the moment we press that nerve, begins to send messages to the brain to calm down. I really don't like that one of the things that happen in

political

debates are things that we never planned, for example in 2016, now President Trump was walking behind Hillary Clinton during the debates, it almost seemed like he was stalking her, I mean , I can just Imagine me trying to talk to the camera right now with someone hovering behind me actually triggering a limbic response so we can see behaviors that arise as a result of another candidate's action and we certainly saw that in 2016 when some candidates they refused to shake hands with others or when humor was used when it really wasn't well-intentioned and that's when we see authenticity, that's when we really see what's in the heart and mind and feeling of this individual and how they react. before his gestures. and communication are all intertwined, they are not two separate things, we know this because we have done research and when we restrain people's hands, they actually remember less, they are actually less energetic and they communicate a lot less, we used to say.

I know that when someone with authoritative gestures needs to adjust the width of it and needs to gesture gently, and of course in the world of zoom, those gestures need to be up here where people can see them. Humans are so sensitive to non-verbal that if you had to. I point my finger at the audience and tell them: we actually have a visceral reaction to what is usually very negative. Now think about how many times a school teacher has called us and left like that, we will know that if we turn that gesture into an open attitude.

Vertical palm gesture that we like and prefer Probably the most popular is this thumb gesture, which is often seen: the candidate is making a point and the thumb barely sticks out beyond the index finger whenever we catch something that we are saying. I am talking to you about something that is important to me, I am in a way understanding it and that must be differentiated, for example, when we speak and say with precision, so this is a precision grip. I want you to think about this, so some of the other gestures we'll look at is the open palm gesture, it shows that we're open, that we're receptive, palms up, fingers wide, this is very attractive.

Some of the other gestures we can see is if the person is doing this. So normally a cane gesture is a cadence behavior that denotes that I'm asking you to come visit me, but when we do it this way, what we're actually saying, if we boil it down, is that I'm really not that far behind of that because it is literally turning away instead of being receptive. The other behavior we can see is touching the heart and chest, which we often see represented as displays of honesty. In fact, they are neutral because I have seen both individuals who are guilty.

Crimes and innocent people use this gesture to give the appearance of being honest, but it doesn't mean they are honest, so one of the questions I get asked is: do politicians rehearse their hand gestures? They flatly refuse to receive any type of training. The others are well trained. The question is how much is truly theirs and how much is borrowed, usually if they have been in office for a long time or if they have been in politics for a long time. For a long time they will be reluctant to change any of their non-verbal expressions, look at President Trump's gestures.

His favorite is to speak with the index finger to the thumb and a glorious nation under God, sometimes he makes a movement with the elbow while he emphasizes. I don't see any protests, many times his eyelids lower to block when he hears something he doesn't like. You can see when he pinches the corner of his mouth, when he is being sarcastic or exercising disdain or contempt, he bites his lip. bag when you don't agree or don't like a question you're asked and then of course you pull your lips when you definitely don't like the question you're asked and if you notice, at any moment you're sitting on the white house surrounded by people who he always hugs himself and yet when you compare it to when he is on his show, the trainee, he always has a territorial display and you see this contrast and you have to wonder why we see this behavior in a TV show and why we don't watch it. in a presidential cabinet, let's look at joe biden's gestures, he touches his lips a lot, we call it a thoughtful behavior, you often see it when people reflect when he is making a point, he tends to frown, squint his eyes and voice . is often lowered for emphasis you should go out and vote and like a lot of people when something bothers them the lips disappear and this is something I am often asked about if this has anything to do with cheating and it doesn't absolutely nothing to do with deception these are the behaviors that we adopt and that we use that help us communicate what we are thinking at that moment people rarely remember what is said but we tend to remember the images that to this day we still show about uh governor dukakis in a military tank wearing the helmet of this tanker and how strange it looked and you know, sometimes we make fun of the non-verbal and yet here was one that we can clearly show that just by showing up in that tank really lowered their stance, you know, some people. see these behaviors as a shorthand, I wouldn't call them behaviors, gestures are part of communication, we have communicated mostly non-verbally, we find ourselves using these gestures all the time and there is a reason for it, people usually respond to them , the people who know us.

Well, we respond to them, so we don't separate them out as auxiliaries to communication, in fact they are part of communication.