politician upgrade
Despite the fact that physiognomy has not been recognized as a scientific discipline since the time of the ancient Greeks, attempts to “read” faces in society did not stop, especially when it comes to important negotiations and people. These attempts became more frequent in the middle of the 19th century, with the invention of the camera by man and the emergence of photography. As you know, the possibilities of photography were especially appreciated by political technologists – after all, with the help of correctly adjusted light, it was possible to emphasize the necessary facial features of a politician, and, on the contrary, to hide what should not be. watched with great interest by a large audience. With the digitization of photography and the advent of editing tools like Photoshop, these possibilities have become completely endless.
Facial analysis specialist, psychotherapist Mikhail Baev is sure of this
Currently, photography is in no way applicable to the analysis of the inner world of a person, since the connection between the perception of a static image of a face and the emotional state of its owner is completely broken.
“Political technologists realize that a photo of a politician must give the right impression, it will be seriously analyzed by a large number of people,” says Mikhail Baev. – First, voters must trust him. Second, he must understand that this person is “of the same blood” as the voters. Third, the politician must arouse sympathy. You can always change your hair, wear glasses, shape your figure with a suit to make the right impression in the photo. But it has nothing to do with the character of the person,” explains the expert.
As an example, Mikhail Baev cites photographs of Barack Obama that show the effect of various light accents. Also, there are various lenses for cameras that can change the proportions of the face.
“Obama’s face is interesting because it’s unusual. It has strong brow ridges while the lower part is quite narrow. By emphasizing the super arches, you can create the impression of high dominance. Highlighting the eyes – instill confidence. Emphasize low dominance, emphasizing the lower part of the face. The blurry face in the photo evokes a low level of confidence,” says Baev.
The photo shows the change of light emphasis depending on the assigned role in the political strategist
Anna Urmantseva
Thus, the shooting method and the illumination of the face can be manipulated and adjusted according to the needs of a certain group of people. The expert believes what makes it impossible to determine the nature of a particular politician.
From an expert’s point of view, it is possible to analyze a person’s emotions only with video.
chronicle of a person
However, politicians and the professionals behind their nominations have long understood that a careful analysis of the video can truly provide answers to questions about true emotions, which often lurk under the “masks” on politicians’ faces that have been worked out for years. .
Therefore, over the last 70 years, politicians have made an effort to learn how to hide their true feelings and motives. To be convinced of this, you can look at the history of the speeches of those who participated in the political events of the 50-60s. According to Mikhail Baev, the video shot with Soviet intelligence officer Kim Philby can now be read like an open book. No such thing can be said about any politician of our day who privately teaches to keep themselves “in view” of the cameras.
Therefore, according to Mikhail Baev, videos with politicians are now only available from two perspectives.
First, it is possible to analyze what means of expression the politician uses to present certain news, his opinion. To do this, you need to know the features of facial expressions of a particular person. Next, you need to analyze the intensity of facial expressions, the frequency of changing certain facial expressions. Second, knowing the features of facial expressions can assess the stress experienced by a politician.
This analysis, in particular, MV Lomonosov at the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University.
embers
Therefore, in order to analyze the hidden feelings of a particular politician, you first need to study different videos with him. The conditions in which the recording was made and the words of the politician are undoubtedly important.
If we examine Trump’s facial expressions, we must admit that he is perfectly in control, has extensive experience in debating, and accepts television shows as an presenter,” says Baev. Shows the results of analyzing Trump’s facial expressions with the profiler program.
In the photo, an example of New Fork’s facial expressions with the words “The White House Secret Service is phenomenal”
Anna Urmantseva
“Trump is characterized by emphasizing important parts of speech with a slight eyebrow lift and their movement towards each other. There is also a characteristic stretching of the mouth. And in a stressful situation this is a quick movement in the mouth area, ”says Baev.
In order to highlight the inherent characteristics of a particular politician, it is necessary to analyze his facial expressions in different situations, on different platforms. At the same time, it is important to understand that there are characteristic facial movements for the region from which the person comes. They can have a completely different meaning.
Mikhail Baev cites as an example a video in which reporters say Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg died while Trump was suddenly on his way to the airport. At this point, Donald Trump is caught off guard and yet he pulls himself together and speaks kind words.
“Facial expressions at the moment are built to sometimes even begin to understand Trumpists,” says Mikhail Baev.
The expert believes that this video can be called the key, that is, it effectively shows the typical facial expressions of Trump.
There’s also a video clip where you can micro-express Trump’s disgust.
“At this point, Trump is taking a tour of the White House and saying that the White House Secret Service are extraordinary, very cool experts. Does his facial expression contradict what he said? Yes. But if you know that this expression of disgust is a New York habit and that Trump is from New York, then the facial expressions take on a completely different meaning,” explains Baev.
macron
As for Emmanuel Macron, the micro expressions on his face definitely don’t fit into Trump’s facial expression scheme. As an example, Mihail Baev cites Macron’s speech in Gabon.
“Here he raises his eyebrows, clearly emphasizing key knowledge points. But it is clear that he is relaxed, he does not have the typical movement under stress – diagonal stretching of the mouth. And here is another speech where Macron always sat with his eyebrows raised. Everything about this conversation is important. This is his address to the nation. And here it is – stretching the mouth diagonally – a typical gesture of Macron’s face under stress, ”says Baev.
The photo shows an example of stretching the mouth horizontally as a stress signal.
Anna Urmantseva
The expert also shows another video in which the stress response is prolonged over time. This is because Macron speaks English in the video. He chooses words, so all his reactions are slow.
Scholz
According to Mikhail Baev, the micro-movements on Scholz’s face are the most standard.
“It is characterized by shrinkage of the lips and lifting of the chin. These are punctuation, so Scholz puts a period or comma, moves to the next semantic part, ”says Baev.
What about stress? In Scholz’s case, her typical response to stress is “Walling” – building a stone wall.
According to Mikhail Baev, there is a promotional video of Scholz talking to environmental students. An unpleasant argument ensues for Scholz, students interrupt, there is a breach of courtesy. AND
A politician enters a state of “Stonewalling” when a storm rages inside a person and a “poker face” appears outside.
At the same time, we can conclude that Scholz is not well prepared as a politician, because his psychological way of dealing with stress, which is highly unacceptable, is apparent. So others can guess that Olaf Scholz is under stress.
“All three politicians behave differently and each has their own facial expression. This is easy to notice if you upload a video for analysis to a profiler program, but for most people such micro-movements of the face may go unnoticed at all, ”says Mikhail Baev.
Therefore, in order to analyze the facial expressions of a politician, one must first examine his life path, select important videos in various contexts, mark on them the expressions peculiar to his environment, understand their meaning and only then conduct an analysis.
The analysis carried out by the scientific leader of the project to create a profiling program was summarized as “This is called real profiling – the prediction of human behavior based on the analysis of the manifestations of its individual characteristics and a certain scientific methodology.” , MV Lomonosov Aleksey Gusev, professor at the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University.
Source: Gazeta
Barbara Dickson is a seasoned writer for “Social Bites”. She keeps readers informed on the latest news and trends, providing in-depth coverage and analysis on a variety of topics.