33 Comments

1. AmberStar October 17th, 2009 at 9:45 am

   I’ve seen him face to face at a town hall meeting and as I saw this announcement live I noticed how unhappy and mechanical the entire speech was. It felt like he was miserable.

2. Luke October 20th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

   well he certainly doesn’t show any happiness… in fact he repeatedly gives reasons not to get it.. interesting for sure.

3. Yvette October 22nd, 2009 at 5:25 am

   Looked very unhappy

4. SH October 24th, 2009 at 10:57 am

   anyone else notice the stretching of the corners of the mouth immediately after he says “surprised and deeply humbled”? (~0:36)

   also what stuck me in the beginning of the video was his almost discomfort in telling the joke, the forced smile he puts up immediately after it.

   clear to me in his words and expressions that he doesnt feel he deserve this

5. C. Lewis October 26th, 2009 at 12:48 pm

   I believe he looked unhappy because maybe he felt that he didnt deserve the award himself.

6. Charlotte October 26th, 2009 at 9:04 pm

   Interesting that he talked about his kids putting things in context for him. He only looked happy when talking about his kids. When he mentioned the prize, he looked annoyed.

7. cameron October 27th, 2009 at 9:13 am

   I think the president was happy to recieve this award, However I do not feel that he was by any means “humbled” by it. When saying that he was humbled there was a slight head turn from side to side, this to me is conflict between the verbal and non verbal. There was also a micro expression of contempt directly after the word humbled came out of his mouth as if the idea that he somehow shouldnt have received this award is rediculous. Also when the president says that he does not accept this award in recognition of his own accomplishments there is a slight shift backwards accompanied by a head nod. He also looks at the crowd for an extra long second which i think is not just making eye contact, as he is doing well throughout the speach, but looking for feedback and confirmation of his statement.

8. Kim T. October 27th, 2009 at 7:16 pm

   The minute he started the speech to the end, he seemed really monotone in his speaking. When I first thought about it, I was thinking well maybe he doesn’t think he deserves this award and when I watched the video and he mentioned exactly that, it seems that he is making himself feel this way. I think that he definitely doesn’t look happy and i think that’s because he’s putting himself down and setting low standards for himself. Maybe in time he learn that he deserved it and accept it.

9. yaf October 28th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

   It seems to me that he was very much in touch with the responsibility that this award puts on his shoulders. He seems to speak his mind truthfully – that this does not mark his accomplishments and that there’s a lot of work to do. He also says that he does not feel that he should be in the same league as some other inspirational figures. You could see that when he speaks.

10. N. van Hees November 5th, 2009 at 1:53 am

    He did not look happy indeed, annoyed even. What further I got from his speech, as far as my reading skills go, is that he believes that the United States is responsible for more than he was saying (for example distinct pause and false starts after “is responsible for”) and that he beliefs the United States has a larger role to play in solving several problems than the rest of the world (visible every mention of “the world”). I also saw a micro expression of anger when he spoke of events related to discrimination. And one of contempt when talking about resolving the crisis in Israel.

11. Blake November 11th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    It seems to me he is befuddled and deeply agitated at recieving the award. A rich anger seems to permeate from him, as if he his angry to have been given such an award prematurely and fearful of unknown implications which may be likely to arise because of it.

12. Astron12 November 11th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    i think that he may have just been angry about having been woken up too early and in a fog of sleep deprivation. He always looked to the cameras to the left or right of our view point adding to the sense of hostility

13. allie November 13th, 2009 at 5:45 am

    Hmmm…why do I find it difficult to believe?

14. Bryan November 16th, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    To me, it looks as if he feels guilty about something, he is trying to hide his guilt, but when he looks down at his speech, the constant blinking of the eyes says to me that he is guilty, or aware of something not yet known to the public.

    I could be wrong, i’m not a professional by any means, just saw the link on the “Lie to Me” page, and being an avid viewer of the show, thought i would give it a try.

15. Ben November 19th, 2009 at 7:54 am

    I think Blake hit it on the head, he didn’t seem humbled to receive it, he does believe that he doesn’t deserve it. Also, did anyone catch the raised eyebrow when he mentioned our “allies”? It was almost as if he was saying that he doesn’t know who he can actually trust. I’ve noticed that in all his speeches (even before he was elected), he never looks straight ahead, always side-to-side, like he’s dribbling a basketball with his eyes. The monotone speech patterns could also indicate, like a lot have already said, that he feels uncomfortable and even perturbed about having to give speeches all the time. I’ve not heard him just having a casual conversation so I wouldn’t know if there are any actual differences between his normal speech patterns and his public speech patterns.

    I’m like Blake, I’m an avid watcher of “lie to me” and I’m also planning on heading back to school for psychology so I thought, why not give this a try.

16. Regina November 19th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

    He wasn’t happy nor humbled by it. He’s an excellent speaker, very comfortable with his script.

17. Claireify November 21st, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    In his “humble” speech after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama’s words seem forced and his facial expression does not waiver. There’s a consistent frown, and a crease in his forhead although it may be due to the sun in his face. Still, he doesn’t seem all that happy that he has to accept the prize. It’s as if his advisors said “You have to take it and sound happy about it.” He is very low key and the tone of his voice–even though he tried to lighten the topic a little at the beginning–is dour and disappointed. I don’t think it’s something he wished for, so when he says he doesn’t deserve it, THAT sounds like the truth.

18. Charles November 23rd, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    There is not much to see, in my opinion.. yes, he doesn’t sound happy, but he doesn’t sound sad. The tone is neutral, and I believe it is what it should be, a leader shouldn’t be showing how happy he is after something like that, voters would probably believe that he feels superior.

    Also, nice catch SH there, @ 0.36.. but I believe that’s just something he does when he pauses and, I believe, swallows (you can also see it @ ~0.59)

    The constant “frown” and the vertical lines that get formed by his eyebrows are probably from the sun, which might be bothering him.. I don’t think it reflects any emotion, since he has it for the whole duration of the video

19. Christopher December 5th, 2009 at 2:47 am

    If you look carefully, you will notice that behind the fact he is looking down to read the paper, he is feeling shame. There are few moment whe he was looking down, but not into the paper, and also the general face expression some moments makes me think he feels ashame.

20. Corey December 6th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    I agree with Blake, I think he is showing constant anger. I only watched a minute of the footage and in the very begining he slams his hand on the podiom. His eyebrows hardly move and anger seems to permeate from him throughout the speech.

21. alex December 15th, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    I think that the speech was forced to much he almost looked angry at what he was saying. I also think that he is starting to realize how mush pressure he is under to succeed.

22. Bones December 19th, 2009 at 5:13 pm

    Nice to see that other people are not fond of Obama. His speech most definitely did NOT show humbleness and happiness. It was everything but that. True happiness will have crow’s feet at the eyes. No crow’s feet for Obama

23. Eliza December 21st, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    I was really surprised after watching his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize Award. Obama usually doesn’t have many unusual body language expressions to pick up on…he’s usually very comfortable and in control. Here, however, I completely agree with Christopher. Obama is definitely showing shame. I feel like it might not be accurate to say it’s when he looks down to his paper because downward eye cast automatically makes people think shame, but I think it’s more in the tone of his voice and in the first fifteen seconds of his speech, where he’s clenching his jaw after saying “commander in chief” and “in the midst of two wars”. He seems ashamed about these two topics. Also, when he says “military”, he’s showing either sadness or shame…I can’t tell. Either way, he seems to feel very unworthy of receiving this award.

24. Sander December 25th, 2009 at 7:20 am

    He could be extremely concentrating – seen one other video and the eyebrows where not so strongly brought to each other – so it’s proberly concealed anger or confused. The reason is that the eyebrown are very strong drawn to each other, and the eyes are narrowed. Confuesed is coherent with his verbal saying of suprisement and not deserving it.

25. Tommy December 29th, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    he doesn’t believe in anything he said… after his sentences he had a sort of “spasm” beside the eyesand he bited the mouth some times… i interpreted as manipulators… apart of this he manifestate a faint contempt in some sentences…

    so
    1st he doesnt believe about his declaration
    2nd he was pleased of success of his “lie”
    conslusion: he lied to himself and others…

26. Steve December 31st, 2009 at 9:23 pm

    I think they tarnished the image of the peace prize when they decided to award the honor to President Obama after such a brief time in office.

27. Thomas January 8th, 2010 at 2:02 am

    Nice speech, but I got the impression he didn’t care about a word he said.

    - His face is emotionless almost all the time.
    - His voice is monotone throughout the speech, and he cuts off his sentences/words, ends them firmly as if he is glad he got over it.
    -His talking pace is slow, and he pauses a lot, which makes me believe that he just reads it because he has to, but does not believe, or care to believe, in his words.
    -Only shows happiness micro-expression when talking about children in the beginning
    -There is a tightening of skin around the eyes (4:14 a.o.), but I can’t find a meaning to it, might be a manipulator as mentiones here before, but it did stand out.
    -Hooks of his mouth when back a few times(3:54 a.o.), in a way that showed disbelief about his words. I don’t know if that’s a real micro-expression, but whenever I make the same face it is because I don’t believe in the words I say or are said to me, or when I just want to get something over with and don’t care, nor want to care at the moment.

    Concluding, I can say that I saw happiness at the beginning. That happiness only showed when he talked about his kids, not when he talked about the nobel price, so for the question at hand, I’d say no, he is not over-excited to get the nobel price. As for the rest of the speech, I didn’t see a lot of expressions, but the general impression I got, based on the things mentioned above is that he didn’t care about the words he spoke. It was just another routine speech that he needs to give during such occasions, and he didn’t feel like doing it this time. There was no enthousiasm at all.

28. iGOTitRIGHT January 14th, 2010 at 5:13 am

    He is unhappy at having to make the speech because he’s heard all the put downs in the news and other media. He resents having to make a speech that is going to be analyzed many times over & he knows this.

    He is happy about the Nobel. There is a micro-expression after the first time he says “I am deeply humble” that micro reflects contempt. Which indicates that he is proud, not humbled, contempt at having to lie in this speech and saying he is humbled.

29. barnette7874 January 15th, 2010 at 10:05 am

    Ok do you think the man has something in his eye or maybe it i just a very dusty and windy day…Everytime he starts reading something that he does not agree with or is being deceptive about his eye blinking becomes more presestent. Is it that abvious? And then when he gets to talking about issuses that he is not comfortable with the rate he is speaking slows and he starts pausing more…The lip biting gets a little intense also in a couple of points

30. Tam January 19th, 2010 at 5:47 am

    I think the key to assessing this footage is to watch it with the sound off. Obama is a very good speaker and he tends to “say the right things”. If you turn the sound off and just look at his non-verbal cues, he is a VERY angry and bitter person. This speech says nothing to me except tightly controlled anger. Look at the constant chin jutting and the twitchy, barely controlled faced. I saw several times where he looked almost contemptuous. I see no happiness and certainly NO humbleness. He looks like someone who has very strong negative emotions which he is trying so hard to control that he tends to look bored or apathetic at first glance.

31. Jason January 19th, 2010 at 10:46 pm

    At no time in this video does Obama show any signs of happiness or surprise when speaking about receiving the prize. Just reading his facial expressions, he looks more along the lines of angry or disappointed. He difinitely doesn’t believe in much that he’s saying here.

32. Max Bears January 26th, 2010 at 1:39 am

    Could also consider tempo and tone changes in the whole speech.

    He starts off with a somewhat upbeat tempo, but apparently not paced enough for a story about his children.
    Then he really slows down to explain that it isn’t about him and all that.
    And returns to normal reading as he gets into the usual political rhethorics. Makes an impression of being barely conscious of what he is saying: the tonal and pause sequences are rather standard.

    Then 04:14 — and a huge pause before “ending a war”, the rest of the paragraph runs smoothly. Also in the pause — a micro twitch. Suggest difficulty.

    Significant tone change at 04:50 (“But I know these challenges can be met”) — suggest a well-learned phrase from back ago which he was happy to find in his speech and deliver. Or a reference to himself (compare how he says “of my administration” and “of people around the world”).

    Micro nods for every phrase in the last paragraph. Suggest he agrees with every word he reads off his speech.

33. Jon January 26th, 2010 at 11:46 am

    First off the neck muscles tighten the first time he says “Nobel Peace Prize” along with an elevated chin which are 2 signs of aggression. He drops his head every time he mentions how he feels or the causes that are failing in his campaign he drops his head like an professional sports star that’s loosing a game. His head holds high when talking about nuclear weapons but then drops again when talking about taking care of the planet’s polution problems. Throughout the speach anytime he mentions terrorism, nuclear weapons, and his title of Commander and Chief he raises his chin in an aggressive and egocentric manner. All the challenges he mentions he drops his chin in retreat.

    So in my analysis he’s not humbled by the Nobel Peace Prize due to his own reaction of mentioning his own title as “Commander and Chief” the chin up is like “Yeah what you wanna go? we’ll take this outside”. Then like a defeated athlete his head drops at all these challenges he knows that are unlikely to change including the economic pressures.

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