Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: Body Language and Statement Analysis No. 4656: Police Officer after Highland Park Parade Massacre #BodyLanguage #BodyLanguageExpert #BehaviorAnalysis #EmotionalIntelligence
(photo credit @briancassella, Chicago Tribune)

2/ In the image above, a Lake County police officer can be seen amidst the aftermath of today's mass-murder during the Fourth of July Parade in Highland Park, Illinois (currently 6 fatalities, 36 wounded/injured).

3/ It's a common misunderstanding that when people cover their faces in this manner or similar that it's because they're crying and don't want others to see their tears/emotional status.

4/ And while this can be the possible explanation in a small percentage of cases, the vast majority of times, it's a nonverbal manifestation of emotional processing.

5/ Said another way, our 'Intellectual Brains' may fully well know what has occurred, but our 'Emotional Brains' are still processing the situation and its ramifications.

6/ It's a signal that our emotions have yet to come to terms with what has happened. Most often, this is in a bad situation — although this same body language can manifest itself with good emotions/scenarios as well.

7/ Sometimes it's the eyes that are mostly covered, sometimes it's a partial covering of the eyes and mouth, sometimes it's primarily the mouth, but often it's more complete — as we see in this example. (photo credit @briancassella, Chicago Tribune)

8/ When this happens, it almost always occurs with both hands (rarely just one hand).

9/ Crucially, when people display this body language in such scenarios, not only do we know they're having difficulty processing the emotional gravity of the situation — it's also a signal that this person has an empathy level that's significantly higher than average.

10/ Thus, this nonverbal display tells us information about the person in real time, in that moment — but also, it helps us predict a larger personality trait: their Empathy Quotient.

11/ People who have suffer from PTSD/C-PTSD also display this nonverbal behavior with a significantly higher frequency.

12/ Conversely, those who rarely/never display this body language in highly emotional scenarios, will have a significantly lower Empathy Quotients.

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