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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
On
December 19, 2016, actor Jerry Lewis sat down to do an interview with journalist
Andy Lewis from The Hollywood
Reporter. One of the goals was to discuss, among other things, the
contributions that Lewis and his nonagenarian colleagues continue to make to
entertainment. Since the seven-minute clip aired, it has been dubbed “a train-wreck”
and “the most painfully awkward interview of 2016.” Throughout those seven
minutes, Lewis provided primarily monosyllabic (yes/no/why?) responses to
questions or a “Why should I?” and so on. During the course of the interview,
the journalist’s and the performer’s voices start to betray more than a hint of
frustration. People watching Jerry
Lewis’s THR interview on-line or listening to excerpts during various radio
or television programs might have laughed or squirmed in sympathy for the
interviewer.
I
was immediately fascinated.
The
first time I watched and listened to the interview I wondered and suspected
that Mr. Lewis is a physical
suggestible because he answered each direct question with a yes or no
answer. As I have explained in previous blogs about emotional and physical
suggestibility, this person receives information differently. For a Physical, message
units are taken in literally and directly: an object is this or it is that; a
direct question is answered directly and literally. Conversely, someone with emotional
suggestibility automatically infers meaning or significance to a question
or comment, and is likely to provide more details than necessary when answering
it. Andy Lewis might have been able to elicit additional information or
conversation from his subject with more or differently phrased open-ended
questions. However, even when he tried this tactic, his subject stayed true to this
one-line-answer patter.
Hmm.
Someone with physical suggestibility and/or a physical
sexual personality also like to talk, to provide explanations and
make sure he is understood. That is why, for example, a physical suggestible typically
provide a lot of details or back-story when working up to his main point in a
conversation. A physical sexual individual tends to be comfortable and relaxed and
even enjoy being at the center of attention, which Mr. Lewis does not seem to
like at all (on this occasion, anyway). An emotional
sexual personality is more likely to provide more direct or even terse
responses (written or verbal), as Jerry Lewis does during this interview. An
emotional sexual also prefers to avoid being center of attention or even
noticed much in the first place, which seemed to be what was going on in this
case.
Based
on what I saw in this interview, I believe that Mr. Lewis is an emotional
sexual personality with emotional suggestibility because he does elaborate on
some of the yes/no information he provided. When he answered the interviewer’s questions
with another question (“Why?”), these responses suggest that he was evaluating/analyzing
every word he was asked and making a case-by-case decision how much information
to provide.
As
a final note, one of the rules of handwriting
analysis is that the way a person writes is a reflection of his behavior
and personality traits. It is a snapshot of your mood at the time the sample is
produced. It would be interesting to compare how much of Mr. Lewis’s behavior
during those seven-plus minutes would show up in his handwriting.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified
hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors
from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. For more
information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an
appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2016
