Body language expert David Alssema analyses Lance Armstrong's interview with Oprah
LANCE Armstrong touched his face 22 times during the interview with Oprah. Body language expert David Alssema tells us what that means.
HE has lied so much, many might wonder if anything Lance Armstrong says can be trusted.
However in his interview with Oprah Winfrey, the disgraced cyclist’s body language indicated a number of truthful admissions – and a lot of negative thinking.
From the outset Armstrong responded with truthful body language to many answers of involvement and pointed to himself when admitting mistakes, with a humble attitude.
When it came to responding to some of the questions, however, rather than give direct responses he paused.
That delay - and a direct eye gaze - would indicate careful delivery of his answer.
Armstrong answered most of the questions with a straight gaze, making it difficult to read information or signals from what we term Visual Eye Accessing Signals.
Often the direction of the eyes can help in reading whether interviewees are remembering images, recalling conversations or constructing their answers.
Without the eye directions it was difficult in defining the accuracy of many of the responses.
In today’s episode I counted over 22 hand to face gestures. Most of these were the index finger placed over the top lip.
This signal would normally indicate negative thinking and matches his statements as he talks about the negative situation.
Armstrong also interlocked his fingers during the interview, moving them from a lock to a grasp position – which would indicate anxiety or low level nervousness.
Due to the circumstances, this is to be expected.
A relaxed hand placement would be a grasp without the interlocking of fingers. Many people clasp their hands during an interview to keep them still and to avoid fidgeting or communicating poor body language.
Overall from time analysing the interview, I would suggest Lance to be providing adequate and honest responses and displaying a humble attitude, as there was minimal dominant body language throughout his hand gestures.
Open hand gestures would suggest honesty and submission when delivering. Palm down gestures with his hands would have illustrated a dominant attitude - however these were not shown.
David Alssema is a body language specialist and Principal of Paramount Training & Development
LANCE v OPRAH - TOMORROW
Join us for complete coverage of the second part of the Lance Armstrong interview from 1pm tomorrow (AEDT).
Armstrong will field questions about his charity Livestrong, the much-maligned photo he posted on Twitter with his Tour jerseys, how his family coped with his disgrace, the message he has for his fans and what's next for him.
Live chat - Analysis from Leo Schlink - Video highlights
Oprah's interview with Armstrong will be shown live in Australia on the Discovery Channel on Foxtel tomorrow at 1PM AEDT.
Social media: Armstrong mocked on #Doprah
