Brett Kavanaugh's forceful, aggressive testimony stood in stark contrast with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's polite deference as they both testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday.

We have to be careful and remember that behavioral analysis alone cannot determine somebody's guilt or innocence, says body language expert Patti Wood, author of Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma. After analyzing his testimony, she says that in these circumstances you can’t declare someone guilty or innocent. But she says it's worth to highlight revealing moments that say a lot about who he is.

"His extreme emotions and inability to control his anger, rage, contempt, and tears is revealing," Wood tells Refinery29. "I have analyzed dozens of congressional hearings and I have never seen someone questioned this broad range of emotions or this intensity." Wood says Kavanaugh used emotions that are known as "cover emotions" in deception detection; anger, "victim tears," and laughter. Those emotions can be sincere and could be because he is innocent, but they can also “cover” guilt, she says.

"His tears seem real and they can certainly call forth empathy," she continues. "They can show that he is absolutely innocent, but I have also seen in my work throughout the years that people who are 'caught' sometimes cry because they feel like victims of circumstances. I have additional problem with somebody crying during their congressional testimony. I have seen people eviscerated during congressional testimony. He was not questioned with the same intensity as many have been. He’s the first person I’ve ever seen cry."

Brett Kavanaugh gets emotional and breaks down in tears as he mentions his father: "Why did I keep calendars? My dad started keeping detailed calendars of his life in 1978."



"In 9th grade, in 1980, I started keeping calendars of my own" https://t.co/kFr2EJ9Z1F #KavanaughHearings pic.twitter.com/53aLLjtzUA — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) September 27, 2018

She noted that throughout the testimony, Kavanaugh both evaded questions and redefined their terms. For example, he said he didn't do anything of a "sexual nature" to Dr. Ford. Wood questioned: What is his definition of sexual nature — he was never asked this — and did he say "Dr. Ford" on purpose, because her last name was Blasey when she was 15? "I have seen this technique used so often by liars," she says. "He has a habit of rephrasing and redefining terms and of not answering direct questions." This doesn't necessarily mean somebody is guilty, but it is an interesting habit.

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Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Another example of evasion is when he responded to Sen. Amy Klobuchar's question, "Have you ever blacked out" with "belligerent and attacking nonverbal cues," and responding with a question rather than an answer, “Have YOU ever blacked out?" Wood says he used humor and the "everybody does it, we all like beer response" in response to the questions about drinking. "I was very briefly a substance abuse counselor and I had to question people every week on their drinking and their behavior. I would have asked him more specific questions like, How many beers did you typically drink at a party? What is the most you ever had to drink in one evening? ... The drinking questions are critical to the assault allegations and it was interesting that that line of questioning was interrupted."

Wood says that a key piece of Dr. Ford's testimony was revelatory, when she said that the laughter of Kavanaugh and Mark Judge is the strongest impression in her memory. "If Kavanagh did it, and he was laughing he may not have seen it or felt it as anything but 'horseplay,'" says Wood. "He may not have had it register in his memory as anything wrong or bad. And or if he was drunk he may not have remembered at all. This is important because his anger is so strong and he seems so emphatic, and he could actually feel he never did anything like this."

Wood emphasized that we still don’t know the truth.

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