Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: Body Language Analysis No. 4652: A bit o' Amber Heard's Body Language during Johnny Depp's testimony
#BodyLanguageExpert #BodyLanguage #AmberHeard #JohnnyDepp #EmotionalIntelligence

https://twitter.com/dreamsunwind966/status/1516845426963619845

2/ The above video is from the ongoing Johnny Depp - Amber Heard defamation trial. Of course, this is just a 12 second video — a small branch of a large tree,...

3/ ...and while we cannot discern guilt or innocence on based on the observations seen in this limited sample size, it does provide excellent teaching examples of multiple nonverbal behaviors.

4/ During this video, Mr. Depp can be heard in the background, testifying, while Ms. Heard communicates with her attorney.

5/ Whenever a smile is seen out of context, you should always ask yourself, 'Why?' This is true for all the variations of smiling — insincere/feigned/faked/social smiles — but it's particularly for sincere smiles of Joy-Happiness (Duchenne smiles).

6/ As this video begins, Amber Heard is already leaning forward with her head-neck-torso during this video in order to listen to her attorney.

7/ As she sits back up, Ms. Heard nods her head up and down (in agreement with her attorney) while initially she displays a pseudo smile with a disgust component.

8/ Heard's initial disgust-smile is very short lived — and thus, it's an example of a microexpression/near microexpression.

9/ Disgust-smiles are common, and in this scenario, despite her acting ability and experience, Heard is using the emotion of disgust to temporarily override/suppress her desire to smile. She's using it in an attempt to camouflage her true feelings.

10/ A split second later, although it is partially suppressed, we see the emergence of a sincere smile of joy-happiness. We don't know what her attorney has just told her, but we do know she's interpreting it as good news and/or a good tactic.

11/ It's extremely common to use a negative emotion (i.e., anger, disgust, contempt, etc.) to amp-up oneself in order to a fake emotional state — to prevent/drown-out a smile or laughter from emerging — because a smile and/or laughter often betrays one's true intentions.

12/ Even though Amber Heard is a professional actor — she is first a human being. She's not 'Mera', she's not in the DC extended Universe, she's just Amber — and this attempt of 'disguising-a-smile-with-disgust' is a human default setting, hard wired into our psyches.

13/ Heard also exhibits a brief lateral head wiggle (0:05-0:06)(Self-righteous head wiggle aka High-confidence head wiggle).

14/ In some contexts, people occasionally refer to an abbreviated (and often more dramatic) variation of this as a 'hair flick' (which may or may not involve a hand [here it does not]).

15/ As she sits back up, Ms. Heard also tilts (extends) her head-neck backward. This is a further demonstration of her self-confidence — crescendoing to arrogance. Colloquially, this brief display is sometimes referred to as, "She was 'looking down her nose' at him".

16/ During such backward head-neck tilting ('looking down the nose at') configurations of arrogance, it's common to have the eyelids mostly or entirely closed. This is a further manifestation of arrogance — as well as dismissal.

17/ The eyelid closing in this context is also both a distancing and a refocusing phenomenon. Think of it as in a (theatrical) play — when the curtains are drawn so the stage is (emotions are) being changed...

18/ ...and a split-second later, when her eyelids are fully open, the rest of her face is quite different, her smile is almost gone (there's a hint of a smile still lingering — do you see it?). This is the actor in Ms. Heard, temporarily gaining (most, but not all) control.

19/ A couple seconds later, as Ms. Heard once again bends forward, initially she has eye contact with her attorney.

20/ Eye contact with one's face this close to another person is typically extremely rare and short-lived outside the context of intimacy. It's emotionally uncomfortable — what some would refer to as, (emotionally) 'awkward'.

21/ While maintaining approximately the same head and torso distance, Ms. Heard then rotated her head so that her left ear is toward her attorney. Outside the context of intimacy, this is a normal and expected dynamic.

22/ As she sits back up again, Amber Heard displays what is known as a Forward Lip Purse. A forward lip purse is a profoundly valuable nonverbal display, for it indicates either a:

• Clandestine Disagreement
and/or a
• Surreptitious (partially or fully undisclosed) Plan

23/ In this setting, it's extremely probable that Heard's thought-emotions associated with this Forward Lip Purse are directed at Johnny Depp, not her attorney.

24/ Outside the context of a literal game (chess, cards, etc. or something roughly equivalent), a forward lip purse is a nonverbal display that NEVER bodes well in the context of a romantic, family, or platonic relationship.

25/ If you see a Forward Lip Purse from your boss, they're probably on the verge of firing you.

26/ And if you see a Forward Lip Purse displayed by your partner (in a romantic relationship), there is an extremely high likelihood of infidelity and/or they're planning to initiate a break-up/divorce.

27/ SUMMARY: Multiple displays of Amber Heard's body language during the ongoing defamation trial, brought by Johnny Depp, are seen in this brief clip.

continued...

28/ And although she is a professional actor, Ms. Heard's human nonverbal behaviors are governing her actions, not her theatrical skills.

continued ...

29/ Addendum:

Any individuals (or businesses/organizations) who want to/need to improve their #BodyLanguage skills — who want to further nuance human behavior, please email DM or email me ([e-mail]).

Ω