Rolling Forward Gesture

Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz holds a news conference in Bern August 6, 2010. Merz, who emerged weakened from the unsuccessful fight to defend Swiss banking secrecy, announced his resignation on Friday after over six years in office.

Moving both hands in a somersault motion signifies moving forward.◦

Rolling Forward Gesture

Boredom

Holding the head up is a sign of boredom. It can also be a sign of thinking, but only if the eyes also show intensity. It is clear the girl in this picture does not have any intenstiy in her eyes.◦

Boredom

Not Often You See a True Smile Before Going to Prison

Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement in northern Israel, hugs his mother, Rukaya, before beginning his prison sentence at Israel's Ayalon prison in Ramle near Tel Aviv July 25, 2010. Salah was sentenced to a 5-month prison sentence for assaulting an Israeli police officer in 2007.◦

Not Often You See a True Smile Before Going to Prison

An Article You Should Check Out 5 surefire ways to offend the locals

5 surefire ways to offend the locals
Body language that's harmless at home may be outright insulting abroad. Here are five gestures to avoid. ...
August 23, 2010 7:50 a.m. EDT
CNN
By Sean O'Neill◦

An Article You Should Check Out 5 surefire ways to offend the locals

Janine Driver Busts Liars

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Janine Driver Busts Liars

Angry and Dangerous

Intensity in the eyes, baring of teeth, and tilting of the head signals impending danger. It is obvious there is anger, but the tilting of the head is the key signal to a individual getting ready to strike.

When a person tilts their forehead forward it is for one reason: to protect the more sensitive parts of the face in a physical confrontation.

You will see boxers and wrestlers do this... protecting the jaw.◦

Angry and Dangerous

Faked Disgust

Whenever you see an emotion (besides contempt) and it is not shown equally on the left and right side of the face, it is likely faked- or at the very least consciously displayed.◦

Faked Disgust

Alessandra Ambrosio I am a Cat!

Alessandra Ambrosio at a photoshoot in St. Barts

She almost pulled it off, except for the raising of one of her feet. This obviously is a photoshoot, but the photographer likely only called out, "give me tiger" and it was Alessandra who lifted her foot in the same way a woman might do when being kissed.

What is most interesting about this picture (besides the obvious) is how the top part of her body is displaying confidence and dominance while the lower part of her body is doing the exact opposite.◦

Alessandra Ambrosio I am a Cat!

Anger, but not Dangerous, more EVIL

The only thing stopping this from being a look at a dangerous individual is the mouth shows no tightness.◦

Anger, but not Dangerous, more EVIL

Dr. Lillian Glass: How to tell if someone is attracted to you

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Dr. Lillian Glass: How to tell if someone is attracted to you

The Narcissistic Personality

Narcissist Personalities are more common than we realize. If you combine this personality with someone willing to commit terrible crimes they often end up being scrutinized on sites like mine. Casey Anthony...◦

The Narcissistic Personality

An Article You Should Check Out: The language of lying

For those of you that are interested in Statement Analysis and/or those of us that use the LIWC2007 software program to analyze and conduct research in the area of word choice (and deception) this is a great article to check out.

The language of lying

"Executives who fudge the truth can be given away by the words they choose, new research suggests..."





For the actual paper search on the following:
Detecting Deceptive Discussions in Conference Calls

David F. Larcker
Stanford University - Graduate School of Business

Anastasia A. Zakolyukina
Stanford Graduate School of Business


July 29, 2010

Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University Working Paper No. 83


Abstract:
We estimate classification models of deceptive discussions during quarterly earnings conference calls. Using data on subsequent financial restatements (and a set of criteria to identify especially serious accounting problems), we label the Question and Answer section of each call as "truthful" or "deceptive". Our models are developed with the word categories that have been shown by previous psychological and linguistic research to be related to deception. Using conservative statistical tests, we find that the out-of-sample performance of the models that are based on CEO or CFO narratives is significantly better than random by 4%- 6% (with 50% - 65% accuracy) and provides a significant improvement to a model based on discretionary accruals and traditional controls. We find that answers of deceptive executives have more references to general knowledge, fewer non-extreme positive emotions, and fewer references to shareholders value and value creation. In addition, deceptive CEOs use significantly fewer self-references, more third person plural and impersonal pronouns, more extreme positive emotions, fewer extreme negative emotions, and fewer certainty and hesitation words.

Keywords: Deception, Restatements, Linguistic Analysis◦

An Article You Should Check Out: The language of lying

Holding a Prop for Comfort

When we hug a pillow, or even hold our arms in a self hug, it is done to provide self comfort.

Whenever you see self comfort with a prop, there is an emotional reason for this gesture.◦

Holding a Prop for Comfort

Body Language Police

In Elmhurst, Illinois a woman deprived of the opportunity to speak to a City Council committee about its plan to hire a $30,000 state lobbyist, Darlene Heslop apparently could not contain herself. She sighed and rolled her eyes — and was promptly ejected from the June 14 meeting.

Read the full article, Elmhurst is one tough town ◦

Body Language Police

Practiced Gesture from Alberto Contador

Astana team rider and leader's yellow jersey Alberto Contador of Spain gestures on his way to win for the third time the Tour de France cycling race before the start of the final 20th stage between Longjumeau and Paris July 25, 2010.

Here he has taken the normal peace sign and added the thumb to show his third win.◦

Practiced Gesture from Alberto Contador

Photo of the Week? Maybe the Year for Spying for Lying Fans

Dwight Howard of Orlando Magic gestures with a student from Beijing No. 4 School for the Deaf during a fan meeting in Beijing, capital of China, July 22, 2010.

I cannot hear you; please be quiet in the background...◦

Photo of the Week? Maybe the Year for Spying for Lying Fans

New Book: Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception

Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception
According to MSNBC, having a child makes you stupid. You actually lose IQ points. Good Morning America has announced that natural blondes will be extinct within two hundred years. Pundits estimated that there were more than a million demonstrators at a tea party rally in Washington, D.C., even though roughly sixty thousand were there. Numbers have peculiar powers—they can disarm skeptics, befuddle journalists, and hoodwink the public into believing almost anything. As Charles Seife explains in this eyeopening book, "Proofiness" is the art of using pure mathematics for impure ends. Bad mathematics has a dark side: it is used to bring down beloved government officials and to appoint undeserving ones (both Democratic and Republican), to convict the innocent and acquit the guilty, to ruin our economy, and to fix the outcomes of future elections. As silly as proofiness can be, it is also incredibly dangerous; indeed, it is threatening the foundations of our society.

"A delightful and remarkably revealing book that should be required reading for... well, for everyone."
—Booklist◦

New Book: Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception

Even though She has Covered Her Mouth, Look at the Eyes of Pamela Anderson to See the Emotion

Actress Pamela Anderson gestures onstage at the Comedy Central Roast Of David Hasselhoff held at Sony Pictures Studios on August 1, 2010 in Culver City, California. The''Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff' will air on Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Some of the latest training tools for subtle and microexpressions only show the eyes; and with the eyes you can tell if underneath her hands there is a smile or surprise. I believe we can tell she is not smiling and since, even at this angle, we can see the whites of her eyes on both side of the pupils we are seeing surprise. Probably surprise because someone has gone too far in their jabs of Hasselhoff.◦

Even though She has Covered Her Mouth, Look at the Eyes of Pamela Anderson to See the Emotion

Liam Neeson Gives Us the Boxer's Pose

Liam Neeson at the premiere of The A-Team in London.

Ready for a fight? What is neat about this pose is it is done so well, look at the intensity of the eyes, and notice how his chin is held back for protection.◦

Liam Neeson Gives Us the Boxer's Pose

Serious Eye block by Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (C) gestures after a final confidence vote on a 25 billion euro austerity package at Italy's upper house of Parliament in Rome July 28, 2010. Berlusconi's government won the final confidence vote on the package, which cuts government spending, freezes pay for many public sector workers, and promises a crackdown on tax evasion.◦

Serious Eye block by Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Russell Brand's Next Movie is a Comedy

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Wednesday July 28, 2010. Russell Brand runs out of St Bart's Church in NYC with red marks on his face and in his undies while filming Arthur.

Unless you learned to run with two casts on both of your arms, it is not normal or natural to run with your arms so far from the body. Here we see him do it to appear even larger.◦

Russell Brand's Next Movie is a Comedy

Hamzi Mansour Gestures by Pointing Upward

Jordan's Islamic Action Front Party leader Hamzi Mansour gestures during a news conference in Amman August 2, 2010. The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest political grouping, said on Monday that it has decided to boycott the November election in protest against a new voting system which it says damages democracy.

This is one of the most common political gestures in this part of the world. In western cultures the politicians rarely raise their hands above their shoulders when gesturing.◦

Hamzi Mansour Gestures by Pointing Upward

Alan Warriner of England looks relieved after winning his match, but I think he is more surprised...

Alan Warriner of England looks relieved after winning his match against John Lowe of England.

I see surprise in his eyes...◦

Alan Warriner of England looks relieved after winning his match, but I think he is more surprised...

Gesture says Open Your Eyes

Football Season 2010 2011 League Total Cup Final FC Schalke 04 FC Bavaria Munich Raul Gonzalez FC Schalke 04 Football men ger 1 BL 2010 2011 try out Single Vdig 2010 horizontal premiumd funny comic Gesture◦

Gesture says Open Your Eyes

Italian Salis Silvia Tongue Jut

Italian Salis Silvia gestures AS She qualifier 70 33 for Women s Hammer Throw Final AT The 20th European Athletics Championships Barcelona

This gesture can have several meanings depending on the context: I got caught, gleeful excitement, I got away with something, I am naughty, or I did something foolish.◦

Italian Salis Silvia Tongue Jut

Lip Biting as a Sign of Stress; Subtle Sadness in the Eyes

Nino, a four-year-old Ethnic Georgian refugee from South Ossetia, stands at her shelter in the village of Koda, some 55 km (34 miles) east of Tbilisi, August 7, 2010. Georgian forces launched an assault on South Ossetia late on August 7, 2008 after days of clashes with separatists and years of escalating tension with Moscow, drawing a devastating Russian counter-strike that ended on August 12.◦

Lip Biting as a Sign of Stress; Subtle Sadness in the Eyes

Runner Alan Warriner Holds His Mouth in Stressful Position

Alan Warriner of the USA in action in the 400 metres during the Norwich Union Grand Prix meeting on July 22, 2005 at Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium in London.

Each person is different and reacts to physical excision differently.◦

Runner Alan Warriner Holds His Mouth in Stressful Position

Terrible Bus Accident Yesterday Shows Us the Concept of "I'm Ready to Work"

Firefighters work a school bus accident that killed two and injured nearly 50 children in a chain reaction accident on Interstate 44 near Washington, Missouri on August 5, 2010. Two school buses carrying band members from a St. James, Missouri high school were headed to an amusement park for a day of fun when the accident occurred. A child in the bus and one in a pickup truck were killed.

If you are a supervisor for a group of individuals that do physical jobs that require the workers to use their muscles there is one clear gesture that the workers can do that is a signal they are ready to work. Take a look at the above photograph, then look at the below photograph.



Notice the arms. In the first photograph the workers all are occupied or had just completed some work and their arms are at their sides. In the second photograph we see these workers with their hands resting on their hips, arms bent outwardly. We've seen this gesture before, and is done to appear larger/bigger. When you see this it is a sign that they are ready to work, or in this case do something- probably anything- to help.◦

Terrible Bus Accident Yesterday Shows Us the Concept of "I'm Ready to Work"

[Journal Article] The “disgust face” conveys anger to children.

The “disgust face” conveys anger to children.
Widen, Sherri C.; Russell, James A.
Emotion, Vol 10(4), Aug 2010, 455-466. doi: 10.1037/a0019151

Abstract: What does the “facial expression of disgust” communicate to children? When asked to label the emotion conveyed by different facial expressions widely used in research, children (N = 84, 4 to 9 years) were much more likely to label the “disgust face” as anger than as disgust, indeed just as likely as they were to label the “angry face” as anger. Shown someone with a disgust face and asked to generate a possible cause and consequence of that emotion, children provided answers indistinguishable from what they provided for an angry face—even for the minority who had labeled the disgust face as disgust. A majority of adults (N = 22) labeled the same disgust faces shown to the children as disgust and generated causes and consequences that implied disgust. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

I do notice that children are more likely to show disgust than anger. I am wondering if they are in fact (at times) showing anger. Have you every tried to describe what contempt is to a child? Perhaps disgust is one of those emotions like contempt where it becomes clearer- from a self awareness viewpoint- to the self with age. I have always said children are some of the best subjects to study facial expressions because they do not have the same emotional 'masking' abilities as adults. Also, as we know from research, around eight years of age children really become accomplished liars; and their personality as liars (that will be with them for life) is clearly being developed.◦

[Journal Article] The “disgust face” conveys anger to children.

Showing Teeth Equals Aggressiveness

Participant Media's Jeff Skoll arrives to the Los Angeles premiere of Magnolia Pictures' 'Countdown to Zero' on July 28, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.◦

Showing Teeth Equals Aggressiveness

Obama Shows Us His Baseline Gesture for 'The Other Side' Today

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias (Right) (D-IL) at a Chicago Hotel, August 5, 2010. ◦

Obama Shows Us His Baseline Gesture for 'The Other Side' Today

Trader Shows Disgust After Wheat Prices Hit 2 Year High Today

A trader reacts in the Wheat pit at the CME Group August 5, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. Wheat prices reached a two-year high after Russia said it would ban grain exports due to severe droughts and wildfires.◦

Trader Shows Disgust After Wheat Prices Hit 2 Year High Today

Keep the Thumbs Exposed

Phil Ettinger attends the Cinema Society & 2(x)ist screening of 'Twelve' at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema on July 28, 2010 in New York City.

It shows a lack of confidence to not show our thumbs and besides it looks weird.◦

Keep the Thumbs Exposed

Interesting Study: Body-Specific Representations of Action Verbs Neural Evidence From Right- and Left-Handers

"An analysis of politicians’ body language by Dutch researchers has revealed that the leaders use their dominant hand for gestures while making a positive statement and relied more frequently on the other when making a negative statement.

"The findings support the “body-specific hypothesis,” which links the content of our minds to the structure of our bodies. They also confirm past studies that showed individuals link their dominant side with positive things — like intelligence, goodness — while associate their nondominant side with more negative attributes.

"Study author Daniel Casasanto, of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands, said the last two US presidential elections offered an unprecedented opportunity to test this theory with regard to speech and body language. "

Unfortunately we all know politicians lie, it would be more interesting to test the theory on average people. Does it hold true for average people? Could this be the start of a theory concerning deception based on dominant vs nondominant handed gestures?


Details
Body-Specific Representations of Action Verbs Neural Evidence From Right- and Left-Handers
Roel M. Willems
Peter Hagoort and Daniel Casasanto

Abstract
According to theories of embodied cognition, understanding a verb like throw involves unconsciously simulating the action of throwing, using areas of the brain that support motor planning. If understanding action words involves mentally simulating one’s own actions, then the neurocognitive representation of word meanings should differ for people with different kinds of bodies, who perform actions in systematically different ways. In a test of the body-specificity hypothesis, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to compare premotor activity correlated with action verb understanding in right- and left-handers. Right-handers preferentially activated the left premotor cortex during lexical decisions on manual-action verbs (compared with nonmanual-action verbs), whereas left-handers preferentially activated right premotor areas. This finding helps refine theories of embodied semantics, suggesting that implicit mental simulation during language processing is body specific: Right- and left-handers, who perform actions differently, use correspondingly different areas of the brain for representing action verb meanings.◦

Interesting Study: Body-Specific Representations of Action Verbs Neural Evidence From Right- and Left-Handers

Clearly None of These People Want to Talk

Country Football 2 3 League FC Red White Erfurt Hertha BSC Berlin Erfurt Season 2010 2011 Football 2 3 League FC Red White Erfurt Hertha BSC Berlin Friendly match Co team manager Rainer Widmayer team manager Markus Babbel and Goalkeeper coach Christian Fiedler all Hertha contemplative men Football ger 2 BL 2010◦

Clearly None of These People Want to Talk

Gesture Says- I'm Hot and Could Faint

A-Studio member Keti Topuria at the opening ceremony for the New Wave 2010 international contest of young pop singers.

What is nice about this gesture is that it was borne out of the theater in the early 1900s when actors were taught to use large gestures, and there was always a damsel in distress ready to faint and there was no other more cliche' way to show the audience "I'm fainting."◦

Gesture Says- I'm Hot and Could Faint

Scoop: Piers Morgan Not Choosen to Replace Larry King

So I was watching The Today Show this morning and Piers was asked if he was going to be the Larry King replacement. He said he couldn't talk about it.

But..Piers did a big nasal flair, showed disgust, and after answering the question exhaled.

Nasal Flare is a sign this can indicate the person is experiencing extreme displeasure. Flared nostrils may also indicate that the person is making an internal judgment about something. When you combine the disgust and stressful exhale and I have to believe he is not the replacement. If only I could find a place to bet on this.

Let's think for a second what else could cause the disgust and flare? Well lets think that maybe the interviewers were told not to ask about it... and Piers reacted to the lack of politeness... the reaction is too much for a lack of respect... too much for someone who would be interviewing on CNN every night, and from the UK, we would think he would be able to hold emotions more in check.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Scoop: Piers Morgan Not Choosen to Replace Larry King

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron Runs His Hand through His Hair

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron reacts after playing cricket inside a stadium in New Delhi July 29, 2010. Cameron trumpeted a $1.1 billion defence deal with India on Wednesday, an early result of a big diplomatic push to court Indian business and tap new sources of economic growth.

After not doing so good the Prime Minister shows some shame, laughs at himself, and rubs his hand through his hair (to pacify himself). What is interesting about this gesture it is a guesture that our mothers and fathers do to us when we were little and is an enduring gesture, when we are older we do it to attempt to create the same sence of comfort that it once brought us.◦

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron Runs His Hand through His Hair

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends the opening session of the foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo July 29, 2010. Abbas will tell the Arab League on Thursday that indirect talks with Israel have not progressed enough to justify face-to-face peace negotiations, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday.

Even from the angle it is clear he is unhappy and his eyes are showing increase intensity.◦

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas