Space Invaders At The Republican Debate

The Republican Presidential debate that took place at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas was considerably more lively and entertaining compared to the previous "kitchen table" style debate the week earlier. Granted, it was not a prizefight or the final table of the World Series of Poker, but there was contact and plenty of action.

Nonverbal communication expert and professor Maggie Pazian joins me again to review some of the key moments of the debate. Below you will find in the reference section books we each conferred with for the purpose of showing there is research behind our comments as well as offering you the opportunity to read further on these subjects.

Enjoy!

This debated opted for the use of podiums

Thompson: Did the layout - the choice of using podiums compared the 'kitchen table' style of the previous debate- contribute to a more confrontational debate between candidates?

Research has shown that based on the seating arrangements such as sitting next to one another or sitting across each other creates a collaborative or competitive environment.

From that perspective, the podium layout definitely seems like it very well can create a more combative atmosphere compared to the table layout.

Romney & Perry: Space Invaders!

Thompson: Territorial displays and touch can be signs of perceived power. High power people are believed to behave freely in regards with respect to touching and invading other's spaces (Carney, et al., 2005).

In this picture Romney does both to try to prevent Perry from interrupting. Perry engages in a territorial display of his own by also invading Romney's space in response to Romney invading his space. The context of the situation was in response to Perry accusing Romney of employing illegal aliens.

This interaction was the liveliest of the evening and really showed me a seemingly level of animosity between the two.

Referring back the picture, we see Romney trying to control the situation by both invading Perry's space, while also touching him.

Perry is not happy.

Pazian: The highlight of tonight's debate was by far the heated exchanges between Perry and Romney. The animosity between the two candidates was not only apparent in their verbal exchanges but equally in their facial expressions and overall body language. Perry pictured above leaked a subtle expression of anger in response to Romney on the topic of immigration.

Subtle expressions unlike microexpressions are expressions of low intensity that can have a short or longer duration. Subtle expressions can also leak without the person who is showing the emotion even being aware of it (Ekman, 2003). Perry shows a subtle tightening of the lips and thrusting forward of the jaw which in combination are really reliable signals that someone is angry. Romney on the other hand is still smiling!

Thompson: We see here in this photo, just after the above picture occured, Perry is clearly not happy and offers us a great display of anger and more so disgust. Notice the skin folds around his nose displaying disgust. Perry is does not hide his emotions as much as the other candidates and I believe this is detrimental to him.

Cain did not like the comment by Santorum

Thompson: Leakage and the above micro expression [as previously discussed here about Governor Christie], or a brief facial expressions not intended to be communicative that last less than a 1/2 a second, is displayed here by Herman Cain while listening to Rick Santorum critiquing his 9-9-9 Plan.

It is important to notice what people do when they listen as it give a great opportunity to offer us a view to their emotional state. This picture above actually happened and it happened less than one second. Did you see it happen live?

Cain clearly leaked out his displeasure and disgust with the comments being spoken. Did you miss it? Do not worry, with practice you too can pick these micro expressions up in 'real-time.'

Say Cheese! (social smiling)

Pazian: Happiness is one of the seven basic emotions and as a basic emotion it also has a universal facial expression usually referred to as 'the Duchenne smile'. However, just as we can express emotion involuntarily triggered by emotion inducing experiences we are equally able to voluntarily pose expressions on our face and the smile happens to be the easiest to fake!

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The social smile also called the fake or botox smile is used for several reasons. Sometimes it is to convey politeness, other times it is to mask a more deconstructive emotional expression. Both were evident in tonight's debate and across all candidates! How can we tell when a smile is just a social smile?

The give-away is almost always the lack of involvement of the muscles around the eyes and each one of the candidates had his/her fair share of fake smiles this evening during the debate. Romney won the fake smile contest having it almost permanently plastered on his face. Some of the other candidates also managed to smile during personal attacks such as Santorum during his exchange with Romney about TARP or Bachman while listening to Perry's argument as to why building a fence on our border isn't the answer.

Thompson: We all have done the 'social smile' and this proves the candidates get a chance to practice it... often.

Thompson: I actually thought perhaps Newt Gingrich or his staff read the last debate recap [here] (well, not really) mentioning how often he pointed as I think he effectively used the alternative to pointing tonight. Then of course "Newt's Angry Finger" made a return later on in the evening.

Look at the two pictures above. What emotions does it evoke in you? Keep in mind, I am not saying pointing should never be used but definitely sparingly.

Bachmann's effective use of gesture & facial expressions.

Thompson: I think this picture of Bachmann speaking to the mothers watching is a great blend of empathy and compassion being displayed in her face while also complimenting it with a strong (note not pointing) batonic hand gesture. Batonic gestures add emphasis to what is being said (somewhat like bold, italic or an exclamation point in text) and in this case, it seems it emits genuine concern with strength.

Pazian: Michelle Bachmann in her most passionate moment of the evening spoke directly to the camera to all the mother's in America about holding on and giving them hope that she as President will turn the economy around so that they don't lose their 'nest' so to speak.

Notice the expression accompanying her words. Bachman is communicating a specific message with this facial expression. Evolutionarily speaking the universal expression of sadness is a silent call for help or assistance.

This well timed expression makes her message that much more powerful as it communicates empathy and elicits a feeling of connectivity between her and the mom's out there that are facing the pain and loss that is experienced with loosing of their homes.

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References

Carney, D.R., et al. (2005). Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 29(2). 105-123.

Ekman, P., & Friesen, W.V. (2003). Unmasking The Face. Cambridge, MA: Malor Books.

Knapp, M.L., & Hall, J.A. (2010). Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction (7th Ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

Remland, M.S. (2009). Nonverbal Communication In Everyday Life (3rd Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.