Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: Body Language and Behavior Analysis No. 4661: Alex' Jones's Attorney gets slapped down by the Judge when he tries to make Hillary Clinton part of his defense.
#BodyLanguage #BehaviorAnalysis #BarbaraBellis #EmotionalIntelligence #AlexJones

2/ Two (of many) things you never want to see your attorney do in court is shrug their shoulders or talk with their hands in their pockets. Alex Jones attorney, Norm Pattis, did both — simultaneously.

3/ In the video above, Mr. Pattis displayed an extended shrug (Turtling) whilst he superimposed several additional higher shrugs as he was talking with his hands in his pockets.

4/ This begins at 0:18 and continued until at least 0:49 (probably a fair amount longer) as Judge Barbara Bellis told him "I don't want to hear 'Hillary Clinton' again."

5/ Note Pattis put his hands in his pockets just as he was about to bring up Hillary Clinton's name as part of his argument for how Secretary Clinton was somehow relevant in this case against Alex Jones.

6/ Outside of exceptions for keeping one's hands warm, tic/tic-like behavior, or a specific idiosyncratic custom — talking with your hands in your pockets indicates a low degree of self-confidence, lowered emotional comfort, and sometimes fear.

7/ The hands-in-pockets body language indicator also includes the tell of embarrassment.

8/ Too often, actors put hands in their pockets — either on the red carpet or even on film — as part of an attempt to appear humble or 'awww-shucks-ma'am-esque." But IRL, hands in one's pockets do not project these thought-emotions (this is poor acting &/or poor directing).

9/ When initiated as it was done here, at the beginning of a statement — it's a good indication that the person who's speaking either does not believe what they're saying (they're lying) and/or they are expecting failure.

10/ If your partner returns home late one evening, and you asked them where they've been, and just as they begin to answer, they put their hands in their pockets — there's a very high likelihood they're about to tell you a lie.

11/ When the shoulder shrugging is simultaneous with their hands-in-pockets speaking, their emotional discomfort is particularly high and their self-confidence is especially low.

12/ An isolated shrug may indicate, "I don't know", "I don't care", "What could I do about it", "It's not my fault".

13/ But multiple shoulder shrugs in a short period of time is a pattern of behavior indicating loss, an effort to direct blame elsewhere (overlapping and accentuating above causes), and/or deception.

14/ A variation on this shrug behavior is seen with 'extended shrugging' — where the shoulders are elevated and the neck foreshortens for several seconds — or sometimes longer — even several minutes.

15/ Such body language configuration/behavior is sometimes called 'Turtling', as the head appears to 'pull in' (with elevated shoulders), hands are in the pockets (or in a fig-leaf/similar configuration) — and their feet are drawn together.

16/ It's almost as if, the person is trying to escape into a metaphorical/behavioral shell for protection.

17/ Additionally, higher shoulder shrugs are often seen superimposed upon the longer-duration and shoulder-already-elevated, extended shrugging. This behavior is seen here (0:18 - 0:49, note particularly at 0:40).

18/ Moreover, as his lateral rocking (0:38-0:39) (here, to his left) serves to even further amplify his underlying low confidence and discomfort.

19/ Note also, just after Judge Bellis interrupts him (at 0:29), Pattis's eyebrows elevates, his eyelids close, and he displays an inward lip roll.

20/ Another inward lip roll is seen during 0:31-0:32.

21/ This is a (mostly subconscious and edge-of-consciousness) effort to suppress an emotional crescendo from building in his psyche — as well as outwardly on his face/body.

22/ SUMMARY: Mr. Pattis had a low degree of self-confidence and emotional discomfort at the thought of bringing up Hillary Clinton as a part of his defense of Alex Jones. He knew it was a weak defense and he knew what Judge Bellis's response would be before he said it.

23/Addendum: All professionals interested in learning #BodyLanguage, please email ([e-mail]) or DM me — esp. attorneys, judges, paralegals, actors, directors, C-level executives, sales professionals, teachers, parents, health care professionals, & crisis mgmt.