Anders Breivik dubbed the “Norwegian mass killer” by the media was found sane and guilty on Friday August 24 for murdering 77 people last year.
When sentenced to 21 years in prison for his crime, Breivik gave a smirk (see 0:54 in video). As the expression lasted more than 0.5 a second on the face, this was a macroexpression, not a microexpression. Clearly Breivik was not trying to hide how he was feeling. You can see his reaction below.
What do you think of his reaction? Do you think it gives any insight to what type of person Breivik is?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yamVsQyUnWU&feature=plcp[/youtube]
Psychopath, and/or malignant narcissist to begin with.
I think he is sane, but he have different outlook on life. On my opinion people like Breivik need to kill. It would be right.
A sense of triumph! He wanted to be declared sane and achieved this. To him this is a vindication of his beliefs. I think he understands the power of being a martyr (though not the ultimate sacrifice in his case). Somehow he thinks his continuing existence which satisfies him will give him opportunities to influence. He is completely without empathy for others. To smirk is a particularly insulting response especially to those you have a ‘dispute’ with.
On the 0:54 seconds, he seems to be proud of his actions.
When he make his gesture wich his fist on 2:26 it could be a sign of angry, domination and revenge. (But I have no idea about it.)
Regarding the gesture at 2:26 (I am by no means an expert on any gestures) I get the feeling that gesture (and others like it) are signals to others. American baseball players make small personal gestures for their families to see, but I think politicians and “members of causes” will make these bigger fist-in-the-air gestures to signal to and even excite other followers.
Nobody else in the courtroom visible in that footage seemed to care about the gesture. One person looked away, but that’s about it.
I would love to hear others’ opinions on this. (And if somebody could cite a study, I’d be forever grateful.)
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