Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: Body Language Analysis No. 4629: This event was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Hitler was watching a track and field race (one of the sprint events).

#BodyLanguageExpert #BodyLanguage #EmotionalIntelligence

https://twitter.com/BarroniBaloney/status/1472261189337948163

2/ While it's possible Hitler's movement was due to side effects from illicit drugs (he was absolutely an addict), it's much more likely this movement was him simply being psychologically involved in the race.

3/ People often behave similarly, i.e. — when they're watching a player *on 'their' team* trying to catch a ball/score a goal and they don't quite make it.

4/ In the English speaking regions of the world, this behavior is sometimes colloquially referred as 'Body English'.

5/ We also often react similarly when we're watching a film. We become involved. The observer becomes part of the participant. This is an epiphenomenon of 'Mirror Neurons'.

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6/ Addendum: Although this behavior resembles 'stimming', it's not. In the short clip (this clip is even looped) it can resemble stimming, but this is mirroring behavior.

7/ The vast majority of stimming behavior is displayed by Autistic people. And it's important to make the distinction that all behaviors that may resemble stimming are not stimming.

8/ Stimming is performed in an effort to self calm, to relieve anxiety or other negative heightened emotions, or to help block some environmental stimuli.

9/ Although stimming was also originally a slang, it's now used so commonly in the Autism community, that it has become largely formalized in the literature.

10/ If you watch the audience during a track and field event or other athletic events, the behavior seen in this example is common.

11/ Moreover, historians have never implicated Hitler was on the autism spectrum.

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12/ Hitler was extremely self-conscious about having only one (descended) testicle. He would routinely cover his groin and would frequently hold his arm/hand near his genital region — a manifestation for his need for protection, emotional discomfort, and vulnerability.