An Artificial, Self-conscious Experience
Presenting to a camera can feel like an artificial experience. You are delivering a message to an inanimate object which feels unnatural at first.
The camera does not give the sensory feedback we have become accustomed to over countless generations of human evolution. The camera doesn’t blink, smile, speak, gesture, or give you any encouraging signals. It’s just a device observing and capturing every little nuance of you, accompanied by a level of unnatural intensity that we don’t experience in our day-to-day dealings with human beings.
Many people feel self-conscious and find it challenging to present naturally on video.
The Big Freeze
You have probably heard of the term “Fight or flight” as being the human body’s natural stress response to a life or death situation. However, it is not entirely accurate.
As discussed in ex-FBI agent Joe Navarro’s book, What every BODY is saying, the way humans actually react to danger occurs in the following order: Freeze > Flight > Fight.
The Freeze > Flight > Fight response has been with us throughout our entire existence on this planet, deployed by our early ancestors who endured large carnivores that preyed on us.
We could say the threat response is in our DNA and is not likely to go away anytime soon.
It’s About Survival
If you are reading this, then you inherited this survival mechanism. Your early ancestors were experts in freezing to avoid being eaten. They would have immediately frozen in response to perceived danger and in a blink of an eye (150 milliseconds) they would have assessed the situation before taking action.
The “freeze” response helps us to avoid detection if we see the lion first. However, the freeze response does not help us escape the danger if the lion is onto us.
The second limbic response is to get away using the “flight” response.
If we can’t get away, “fight” is the final option, but since we are much weaker and slower than lions, this was not ideal and obviously the last resort for our ancestors.
What does this have to do with video presentations you may ask?
Threat Response
In our modern society, when people feel threatened, they still react in exactly the same manner our early human ancestors did. The threat response happens at a subconscious level, driven by the limbic system, the primitive part of our brains.
Soldiers in combat react the same way. When the soldier at the front of the squad “on point” freezes, everyone behind them freezes automatically without consciously thinking about it.
The strategy that opossums use, “playing dead” is an extreme example of the “freeze” mechanism, but they are not the only animals to do so.
In the book, Navarro recites accounts of the school shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech which showed that by freezing and playing dead, many students survived even though they were only a few feet away from the killer.
Hormones and Unresourceful Thoughts
When our body unconsciously adopts the “freeze » fight» flight” stress response, it causes cortisol (stress hormones) to rise.
The release of these hormones can wreak havoc on your nervous system and mindset.
In stressful states, negative thinking patterns may surface, which can decrease your self-esteem and your motivation. Studies (MRI imaging) found that negative thinking stimulates parts of the brain that generates depression and anxiety1, 2, 3.
Our feelings have a big impact on our physiology.
How we use our minds to think has a big impact on how we feel, and how we feel drives a lot of our conscious or unconscious behavior.
Nerves. A Nice Word for Fear
We call it “nerves” but that is just a nicer word for fear.
I see the threat response occur with some of my clients who are (highly confident and capable off-camera) but feel self-conscious onscreen.
They freeze” up, become anxious, close down, and contract their energy. This shuts down an effective display of emotion. The result is a flat” or “wooden” delivery on-screen.
Or they’ll shoot to the opposite extreme (discussed later) in order to compensate. Neither approach works for them or their message. Nor does it make for a compelling first impression or positive viewing experience.
“What you do speaks so loud…I cannot hear what you say”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Low-Level Threats. Amplified On-screen
Presenting on video is obviously not as threatening as being confronted by a lion, but our brains still use subtle modifications of these primitive responses for lower-level threats.
In my work with clients, these responses can be subtle, like a low-level distracting hum, chewing away at them in the background.
Unfortunately, these threat responses become amplified on-screen and detract from the presenter’s ability to appear confident and persuasive.
The external behaviors we see in others act as signposts for what might be going on internally.
A person’s thoughts and emotions are reflected in their:
- Movements and gestures,
- Posture and alignment
- Body language
- Breathing patterns (depth/rate),
- Facial muscle tone, skin coloration, lower lip mass, and pupil size.
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A Desire to Protect Ourselves, Big or Small
As discussed, freezing is a subtle manifestation of the desire to protect ourselves.
In modern times it can be exhibited in people who try to make themselves look smaller by taking up as little space as possible, often restricting their breathing and minimizing body movements in an attempt to avoid predatory detection.
In the context of video presentations, the visual effect of this threat response is like that of a “startled deer in the headlights”.
Some obvious freeze-fight-or-flight physiology states include:
- Defensive, sunken, or compressed body size and posture (to protect the body from attack)
- Minimized body language. Arms and hands are restrained, held close to the body (to protect the limbs)
- Reduced eye-blink rate and diminished eye-contact with the camera. Eyes can appear shifty, narrow, or wide-eyed
- Common mindset tendencies: wanting to escape, to rush, to speak quickly
- Speech errors, tripping, slurring with the tongue, dry clicky sounding mouth
- Reduced facial expressions and facial animation aka resting-frozen-face. Tight lips and mouth, clenched jaw, and pale skin
- Turtle neck and elevated shoulders (to protect the neck – a vital body part that predators focus on when attacking)
- Reduced vocal tonality i.e. monotonous voice, lack-luster resonance, volume, and pitch
As you can imagine, this is not the best way to give a powerful video presentation.
The freeze-fight-or-flight can also impact your energy levels on-screen. Some presenters try to compensate by over-projecting (actors refer to it as “hamming it up”).
On-screen it comes across as pushed, forced, trying too hard, and inauthentic.
Avoid Pacifying Behaviors
As an FBI investigator, Navarro writes that people being questioned about a crime will often keep very still, hold onto armrests, interlock their feet behind the chair legs, and “freeze” that position for an inordinate period of time while being interrogated.
Then from time to time, they will use their hands to touch, rub, or stroke themselves in an effort to reassure themselves.
These “pacifying behaviors” are subtle manifestations of the threat response, and usually, happen at a subconscious level without the person realizing they are doing it.
Actionables
Identify any of these pacifying behaviors in your own video presentations.
- Film yourself delivering your video presentation. Then mute your video and watch your playback
- Where in the script or video segment do you display or use any of these pacifying mannerisms?
- Was there something jarring in your scripting or with your thought process during that sequence? Investigate that
In the future, pay attention to media-trained public officials, spokespeople, TV presenters, or interviewers. You rarely see these professionals use pacifying mannerisms on-camera.
Professional presenters and speakers have been trained to avoid such mannerisms so that they don’t undermine their message and authority.
As a result, they appear more persuasive and in control. And the audience is more likely to be responsive to the presenter and their message.
Awareness Sets You Free
As you go about your day pay attention to your own freeze, flight, or fight responses. Take note of any triggers, irrational fear, anxiety, anger, and any habitual avoidance strategies.
Common red flags include;
- spinning off into “storytelling” (i.e. should/shouldn’t, right/wrong) resistance, procrastination, blaming, complaining, criticizing, avoidance behaviors like overconsuming i.e. binge-watching content, scroll holes, shopping, eating, etc.
If you find yourself in the throws of this, practice my SBW technique.
Begin by dropping the storyline you are telling yourself. This includes your opinions and judgments about what is happening.
- Stop what you are doing, even if you are in mid-sentence. Stop
- Pausing physically brings you back to the present moment
- Breathe. Inhale for 2 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds. Repeat 4 times
- This creates space in the mind so that you become less emotionally reactive
- It gives your pre-frontal brain time to regain control over your emotional state
- Watch what your mind and body are doing
- Notice what the mind does, the kind of thoughts that rise up, the tone of your internal self-talk, harsh, mean, etc, the kind of words it uses,
- Notice how the body feels, where is the tension felt in the body? In the temples, face, jaw, tongue, throat, chest, shoulders, stomach
- What are your limbs doing?
- How are you breathing?
To be clear, this practice is not a beat yourself up, make yourself wrong, or fix and change yourself session. Rather, it’s a practice of self-awareness. To simply abide in the raw, energy of the emotion, in the moment, without a storyline, opinion, or judgment about it. More importantly, without defaulting to any habitual escape routes (as mentioned above).
The more awareness and self-compassion you have towards your Freeze > Flight > Fight threat responses, and the default behaviors and patterns they generate, the more they’ll begin to lose their hold and power on you, and the freer and more expansive and expressive you’ll become in life and on video.
If you have a question or you what me to cover a topic for you let me know. I’m always listening! And, you can always book a time with me to get the tailored support and guidance you need on any of the performance areas covered in this post. See below for details or learn more about my services here.
Established in 2006 Bianca Te Rito, founder of STEBIAN.com provides an exclusive, consulting service helping business thought leaders, speakers, award-winning authors & VIPs productize their thought leadership and present themselves, their products, services, or brand message to their target audience in the most effective way possible on video. Get the tailored expertise from a real-world operator with over 20 years of TV/Film industry experience working in front of and behind the camera. Learn more about our custom offers here.
1 Harvard Medical Health Publishing
2 Your Brain Can Be Trained to Self-Regulate Negative Thinking
3 NIB