Gov. Christie: Duper's Delight or Just Playful?

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared recently on NBC's Today Show with GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney as Christie endorsed Romney for President in the 2012 election. The still shots below are of interest as they center around the host asking Christie if Romney made any promises to him in return for his endorsement- specifically naming Christie as his Vice President running mate.

Prior to looking at my pictures, watch the video yourself to try and establish a baseline for Christie. Then pay specific attention to 1:16 through 1:22.

Watch the video [HERE] (note: a new window will pop up).

Is Christie being forthcoming and truthful? Is he just being playful? Possibly deceitful? Perhaps unsure or not confident of what he is saying?

Things I noticed (again note: it all occurs in under 6 seconds), which deviates from his baseline are:

• Looking down
• A quick smirk (in contrast to laughing and smiling)
• An extended blink

The pictures below are in chronological order.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Now that you reviewed everything, you might be asking yourself what does this have to do with me?

As much as this was intended to offer you some enjoyment, the purpose of this article is to offer substantive information that can help you become more aware of the nonverbal communication elements present during any interaction regardless of what you do professionally.

Think about it, for example, if you think he was being deceitful, have you noticed yourself ever doing the above mentioned actions? If you think he was lacking confidence, can you pick out those gestures in the future with someone else?

Reveiw the video again as well as look at the pictures and recall how each facial cue happened for less than a second. These micro expressions, or a facial expression lasting only a fraction of a second, are easily missed by many (Ekman & Friesen, 2003) however with practice, you too can become aware of them.

In regards to Governor Christie not maintaining eye contact, generally speaking, eye contact is seen as being positive (Andersen, 2008 & Koch, 1971) while gaze aversion has a negative perception (Burgoon, et al., 1986).

Ask yourself, if you think perhaps there seemed something 'off' about the way he was speaking, especially when reviewing his baseline actions, should you review your own actions while speaking to see if you display similar nonverbal cues?

As far as the brief, surpressed smile in the last picture, some might call it the "duper's delight" or taking joy at fooling someone (Burgoon, Guerrero, & Floyd, 2010).

For each of the above mentioned facial cues, it has raised some interesting questions that have made me discern, look deeper into his actions as well as review previous research. One thing for certain, I think the brief review is not conclusive, however, as I have shared with you already in this article, it does raise questions, especially in regards to his actions seemingly being incongruent to his words. [Read more on words and actions not being congruent here]

I hope this article provides a genuine opportunity for everyone to reflect on their own actions to become better communicators while realizing the significant role numerous nonverbal channels, in this case micro expressions, have during our interactions with others.

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References

Andersen, P. A. (2008). Nonverbal Communication: Forms and Functions. Long Grove, Il: 
Waveland Press.

Burgoon, J. K., Coker, D. A., & Coker, R. A. (1986). Communicative effects of gaze behavior: A test of two contrasting explanation. Human Communication Research, 12, 495-524.

Burgoon, J.K., Guerrero, L.K., & Floyd, K. (2010). Nonverbal Communication. New York: Allyn & Bacon.

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

Koch, R. (1971). Nonverbal Observables. Theory into Practice, 10(4), 288-294.