Tiger's Apology Body Language Said It All

By Jo Piazza Posted Feb 19th 2010 04:56PM

Shame, shame, shame! That was the theme of Tiger Woods' 14-minute press conference/mea culpa on Friday afternoon. While verbally, Woods' expressed how wrong, foolish and selfish he had been, Tiger's body language spoke to the immense shame and humiliation he felt while having to publicly admit his wrongdoing. According to body language experts we spoke with about the Friday fiasco, Tiger was absolutely truthful and repentant. What they said after the jump!

"Shame causes a person to feel inferior to, and 'smaller' than, others -- something Tiger probably hasn't experienced much in recent years. But you can see his unconscious attempt to appear 'smaller' by the very subdued posture, and lack of gesturing," explains body language expert Vincent Harris. "The fact that Tiger was displaying non-verbal signs of shame only tells us he is humiliated by the disapproval of others, but not that he felt guilt about his actions before others knew about his behavior."

As Woods approached the podium alone, the fear in his eyes was obvious.

He was incredibly tense and fearful when he first walked out. Usually, his body language is limber and loose. In this case, he was upright and tight," explains Patti Wood, media coach and body language expert. "He looked like a deer in the headlights. He was truly terrified. The first look when he looked up was one of sheer fright and you can tell that by how much of the white you can see around his irises."

Tiger only held his head high when he talked about others, his wife, mother, fans and friends. The rest of the time, the level of his chin remained much lower, as if he were trying to put himself in a small box.

His pivotal moment of shame came when Tiger admitted that he had convinced himself that normal rules did not apply to him.

"At this point he brought his head down into a bow of submission and shame," Wood says.

He repeated his bow of submission when he admitted that for the past 45 days he has been getting help for his problems in rehab.

Tiger's body language also belied a distinct sincerity when he told the audience that Elin had never engaged in domestic violence against him.

"He was shaking his head no as he said it, so his subconscious was in agreement with what he was saying," Wood explains. "That was a true moment for him."

It was very apparent that the fallen phenom has been heavily coached through this speech, despite reading it off cue cards. After all, he did have 80 days to practice what he was going to say, and if there is anything Woods is good at (besides scoring waitresses), it is practicing.

Because he had been trained into submission, Woods was careful to keep his anger out of his speech, save for the part where he asked the media to leave his family alone.

"He was highly coached not to be mad," Wood says. "He was holding his body still, but you can tell he was holding in his emotions. His words were strong, but his delivery was not, which indicated he was trying to hold back."

But overall, experts agree Tiger was extraordinarily honest.

"Tiger looked straight into the eyes of his mother and friends as he expressed the shame he felt. His voice occasionally broke, but his intense directness and honesty about his infidelity is nothing we have ever seen before. He was 100 percent truthful about all he said," says psychologist and body language expert Kevin Hogan. "This was the strongest public apology I've ever seen -- for anything -- in 12 years of doing body language analysis."

Tags: tiger woods, Tiger Woods apology

Comments

(50)

Friday 19 February

By vinzy50

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It is sad that so many think there is no turning your life around after a disaster like this one. Just maybe he is sorry that he caused so many people so much pain. I prefer to think he is sincere in his repentance and is going to try to be what he should have been from the beginning, a good husband and father. I wish him and his family well.

By imansmimi

I am not an expert in behavior, but anyone caught in Tiger's situation ALWAYS says "I am so sorry." Tiger was reading a script written by someone else and no matter what his body language showed...he showed no emotions, just read what was in front of him. I do not think he is sorry, he is only concerned about his image. But time will tell--stay tuned folks111

By Heather

Once a cheater always a cheater! That apology couldnt get anymore scripted.

By jaxii2005

He apologized which is what we all were waiting for which was great.I think his speech was sincere but actions speak louder than words. Only time will tell. Now I think it's time we all move on to another subject.

Saturday 20 February

By kombizz

I am sorry for his wife and children.
I think his wife SHOULD divorce him and get marry with a normal honest man.

By DaTruth

All is a BIG FARSE staged by his sponsors and the PGA Tour to keep making money (with Tiger out of the tournaments they lost more than 50% of TV audience and sales went down. Is all about the greens... how cares if he cheated or not... they all do, cheating wasn't invented by Tiger! Do buy into this crap! He looks at the camara and sais "I'm sorry"... yeah right! Me too! I'm sorry that I don't have your bank account and if I don't go to work my family don't have food on the table while you spend millions in whores and drugs...

By NancyB

Sorry folks, but I don't think Tiger owes anyone an apology outside of his family. He never stood on the 9th tee and stated he was a role model in all ways of life. He was and is a superior golfer and that, besides his charities, should have been all that was necessary for the outside world. It is none of our business what goes on in private lives. To quote a John McCutcheon song...."we build up our heros just to bring them down."

By Elaine

I heard another body language expert on ESPN say the opposite, that his apology was not genuine. As for his shaking his head, suggesting a no, when denying his wife ever hit him, I would take that to mean he was trying to convince himself that what he was saying was true!

If she did not hit him, then why did he crash his car? He failed to adrress this. I believe he is in an unhappy marriage and that is the prime reason he cheated. This is all about Elin. I believe she chased him, he fell for it, then got trapped in the marriage with two young kids and did not know how to get out. He then cheated with mostly the type of women he would not marry and would not pressure him to leave his wife.

What if he is lying about the domestic violence? No one is talking about this.

Sunday 21 February

By BV

I didn't believe a word of it! He was sorry all right, Ahem ! That he got caught. If Elin stays with him she's a fool. Take the millions and run....................

By Diana

I knew Tiger had been coached before the conference, any celebrity would have been. I am also sure he had a body coach, because now this is exactly what every celebrity goes through when they have been in trouble for anything. They will be judged by a 'expert' in 'body language'. Ant Tiger has already been judged by the whole world. I think its time everyone cleaned out their own back yard. And let Tiger, and his wife work their private problems together. All of this media crap is not helping anyone. Everyone has a breaking point, it looks as if Tiger has reached his.

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