THE LANGUAGE OF

THE HANDS
CRISTINA-BIANCA BALTA

30TH OF JANUARY 2017

ACADEMY MINERVA

VGVB16THE1
STUDENT NR: 356586

GRONINGEN

DESIGN
 TA B L E O F
INTRODUCTION

THE HANDS

THE RIGHT HAND

THE LEFT HAND

PALM GESTURE

HONESTY

THE POWER OF THE PALM

HAND SHAKING

BIBLIOGRAPHY
CONTENTS
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10

14

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INTRODUCTION
“C
ommunication is key”,
but imagine moving
to a country where
you do not know the language and
you cannot communicate with any-
one. I was in this situation when I
moved to the Netherlands to study
Graphic Design.
The main problem was that every-
one expected me to be Dutch, but
when they found out that I don’t
speak the language they stopped
making an effort to communicate
and often gave up.
This is when paying attention to
body language comes in handy.
You might not understand the
whole message but you can deduce
someone’s feelings, attitude or even
the topic being discussed.
pixabay.com
“According to most of the social psychologists, nonverbal
communication makes up about two-thirds of all commu-
nication between two people or between one speaker and a
group of listeners.” (Neha, 2013)
Another thing that grabbed my attention
and made me more interested in body language, especially what
hands “say”, was the caput I went to at the beginning of
this semester - Cross Arts.
The teacher, Leo Delfgaauw, showed us how hands are used in art
in order to transmit a certain message. Most of them, like “The
Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo, painted on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel, became iconic. Any piece of art or picture in which
the hands are close with the fingers almost touching each other
instantly brings to the mind the painting of Michelangelo.
4
The body is in a state of contin-
uous movement, a mass of mole-
cules that expresses itself through
an explosion of different gestures,
most of them being insignificant.
Gestures that correspond to the
need of “backing-up” the words
and the emotions. Each one of
our movement is a reaction to a
specific emotion, without it being
extremely significant. That move-
ment becomes a language when it
is constantly repeated, in the same
context and in the same way.
Nonverbal communication, or
body language, is a method to
transmit information, just like
words. The difference is that it
is realized through facial expres-
sions, gestures, touching, move-
ment, body posture and many
others. Sometimes, by observing
someone’s gestures, we could
find out if what they say is true,
their feelings or even intentions.
Therefore, its elements are often
called “clues”, because they reveal
the true mental state of a person.
(Navarro, 2014)
Obviously, any
interpretation
of the gestures
depends on
the context
and the
environment.
A right interpretation is the result
of considering the combinations
of all the gestures. For example,
if the subject you are observing
has his arms crossed, even if it
depends on the context, you can
surely say that person has reached
a decision or he is unable to make
one (knowing that the wrists are a
symbol of choosing or deciding).
Though, there is one aspect that
should be considered and that
depends on the context – is the
person not able to decide or
he does not want to make that
decision.
When you cross your arms, they
“block” your actions and/or
thoughts.
When you are in front of a group
of people that permanently cross
their arms, your message will not
reach them.
Intertwined fingers indicate a
person with a lot of compassion,
but also a person whose creativity
is suppressed.
When a person holds his phone
to his right ear with his left
hand when he is listening to the
interlocutor, he is probably a
person who improvises a lot and/
or refuses to respect the “rules of
the game”. The reversed situation
gives the feeling of lack of
pragmatism and even selfishness
which is heard during the talk.
The right hand is a symbol for
ability. (Navarro, 2014)
pixabay.com
 Each one of them has 27 bones,
fact that allows them to move in
many ways. With a simple touch,
they can comfort, cause pain or
pleasure. Being equipped with
sensitivity and power, the hands are
an expression of our intelligence
and our affection. They are like the
perfect machine – even if they are
one of the most active parts of the
body, they never get tired.

6
pixabay.com
A PERSON WHO IS TALKING TOUCHES THE
BACK OF HIS HAND WITH THE OTHER ONE THE LEFT HAND
Usually, we touch or rub the skin to relieve pain
or scratch because it itches. But it could also The left hand is considered “the
mean that it is a reaction to talking about a passive hand” of the right-handed
subject which is upsetting. people, the ones that learns and
helps the right hand. A person who
uses his left hand to touch his face
or his lips often is a person that likes
to observe rather than interven-
ing. This hand is called the hand
of fondness and contemplation.
(Messinger, 2014)

THE RIGHT HAND

This is considered “the active hand”

of the right-handed people. It cre-
ates and organizes the creation. The
right hand is the offensive hand, the
“office” of initiative.

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When you swear, you instinctively
place the hand on your chest, with
an open palm. When someone
takes an oath in court, they hold
the Bible with their left hand and
they raise their right hand, show-
ing their palm. (Pease, 1992)
All through
If you want to find out if some- history open
one is truly honest with you, you palms were as-
should observe the way they show sociated with the
and move their hands. For exam-
ple, when someone wants to show
truth, the honesty,
that they are completely sincere, the submissiveness.
they extend one or both arms In ancient times, it
while showing their palms to the was used to show
person they’re talking. It is just like that the person
they would say something such as: was harmless,
“Let me be completely open with
you!”. (Pease, 1992)
having no
weapons.
8
pixabay.com

However, if people cannot see
your hands while you’re talking,
they would find it suspicious.
If you ever talked to someone
whose hands were under the
table, you would remember it as
an awkward conversation. If you
keep your hands hidden (in this
case, under the table) or if they
are not so expressive, you look
like you are embarrassed, hiding
something, scared or even a liar.
(Navarro, 2014)
For instance,
every interview tips you will
ever read will tell you to keep
your hands still, not look
overly excited and don’t show
any enthusiasm. After I had
researched body language
I came upon the statement
above and I decided to make
an experiment. For
my application interviews, I
wanted to see which one of
the two was true.
At the first one I followed the
tips I had previously read,
about not moving your hands
too much.
At another one I tried to look
Another example
of a situation like this is when I
more enthusiastic, show and
met my classmates for the first
move my hands.
time.
The results were Because most of the people were
shy and not so sociable
surprising.
they tended to keep
Even if I followed the inter- their hands out of view
view tips, at the first Univer- and were less expressive than my
sity they were more reluctant more confident classmates.
to continue the conversation,
distant and uneager to inter- As the year passed by, they start-
act. You could almost feel the ed to loosen up and talk more.
tension and the awkwardness Even though at this point of time
of the situation. they were acting like everyone
else, it was clear that they were
At the other one, the inter- not so close to the others.
view went smoothly. The
conversation was pleasant, They were giving the
even fun. Slowly, the talk
between me and the teacher impression of being
who interviewed me became introvert people who
less formal. Half an hour would not want to
after I had finished the inter-
view, they called me back and have a conversation
said that they really liked my with you.
enthusiasm and sincerity.
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THE POWER OF THE PALM
T
he most import-
ant guidance
gestures are
these three: the
palm of the hand facing
upwards, facing down-
wards and holding it in a
fist, pointing a finger. The
difference between them
is that each one of them
expresses a different atti-
tude.
The hand facing
upwards
It is a submissive sign, not at all
threatening, being compared to
the gesture of begging.
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The hand facing
downwards
It indicates an immediate author-
ity, that used when you ask for
something, it gives the impression
that you give a command, even if
you used the same tone of voice
as in the first situation.
 commons.wikimedia.org

The “closed” On one hand, there is the person

palm, pointing a
finger
The forefinger becomes a sym-
bolic threatening bat. This has
the most negative impact towards
the other person, especially if
your manner of speaking is quite
abrupt. (Pease, 1992)
who holds his hands with the palms fac-
In addition, ing downwards (hands in pronation). This
person is called a revisionist. This gesture
palms can can be interpreted in two ways. The ex-
plicit manner: to silence the audience. The
also reveal implicit manner: it is a code designed to
discredit the opponent and his words. The
someone’s pronation of the hands is a clue that re-
veals a cautious person, even a non-confi-
personality. dent one, who will calculate every decision
or who will temper the group’s enthusiasm.
His face would most likely look severe.

For example, let’s say you are at the train station and you ask
someone for directions. If they are in a hurry or do not want to be ap-
proached, they would raise their hand with their palm facing you shaking it
sideways as they would tell you “no”. Subconsciously, his objective is to silence
you, even if on the moment, he does not think about doing it nor wants to be
rude.

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www.romper.com
On the other hand,
there is the person who holds his
hands with the palms facing up-
wards (hands in supination). This
is usually a person who puts oth-
ers’ interests beyond their own.
The hands in supination reveal a
cooperative and joyful individual.
This gesture counts a lot regarding
someone’s public image. Usually,
extroverts use this gesture more
than introverts and is connected to
the sincerity of the speaker. People
holding their hands in supination
usually have something to offer.
Many presidents use this tech-
nique during press conferences
or public events. For example,
Barack Obama, the 44th Presi-
dent of the United States, is seen
with his hands facing upwards
and gave the impression that he
was an honest and generous per-
son. Even if Donald Trump, the
current president, shows a similar
gesture during his press confer-
ences, he uses them in totally
different circumstances.

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“The open palm is ‘look I’m an honest Joe’ but
there are lots of examples of it when he’s talking
Professor
Geoffrey Beattie
academic psychologist and author of
“Rethinking Body Language” stated
in an interview for Euronews
13
www.mtv.com
about negative things happening.
‘Look, you the audience and I, we are in exactly the
same boat.’ And he doesn’t do that verbally he does
that non-verbally… Some critics of Trump rightly
point out that he talks about himself quite a lot. And
people have talked about his very high level of nar-
cissism… But what is interesting, sometimes when
he does that, he doesn’t contradict it – he compen-
sates for it – by using these gestures to build a ‘we’
connection with the audience. He’s showing that his
emotions and their emotions are aligned. So even
though he’s talking about himself he’s still building
that rapport, building those connections with his
audience.”

T
here are three
attitudes that can
be transmitted
using a handshake:
domination, submission,
equality.
These three attitudes are subcon-
sciously transmitted, but can be
learnt and used consciously as well
(if you know about them).
The dominating handshake is
perceived when the person (who is
dominating) engages in the hand-
shake with the palm of his hand
facing downwards. This gives the
impression that that person wants
to control the situation.
The submissive handshake is
the one where the person engages
in the hand-shake with the palm
of his hand facing upwards. This is
useful when you want the other per-
son to know that he is controlling
the situation and you will not be
against it.
When two dominant people
engage in a handshake there will be
a symbolic fight between them
and both will try to twist the other’s
palm in a submissive position. If
the two palms remain vertical,
there is a feeling of respect. This
handshake is called a “manly hand-
shake”.
HAND S
In addition, the strength of
the grip is important as well.
If the grip is weak, it means that
the subject is lenient or is working
in a field where he uses his hands a
lot – surgeon, artist etc. If the grip
is strong, the subject is aggressive
and dominant and will most likely
use the first type of handshake as
well.
Even if the actual handshake
emphasizes someone’s attitude
or personality, there are more
things to take into account.
Depending on how close to you
the person stands, their posture,
their facial expressions and even
where their feet are pointed, a
handshake could mean different
things.
For instance, if you shake
hands with someone and both of
your hands remain vertical, that
shows equality and respect, but if
the other person places his hand
on your shoulder, pressing down
while shaking hands with you,
that means that he wants to show
you that he has the power. This is
called “the politician’s hand-
shake” (Pease, 1992).
14
HAKING
Donald Trump has a distinctive
and, in the same time, weird
handshake. Body language experts
from across the world have been
analyzing it since he has become
president.
Another example is when he
welcomed the Prime Minister of
Japan Shinzo Abe into the Oval
The most commented on hap- Office. The handshake lasted
pened at his meeting with former for about 20 seconds, thing that
president Barack Obama. Both made the Prime Minister look
adopted a defensive posture. away surprised with a distracted
expression. Trump initially offered
his hand with his palm facing
upwards, thing that gave him the
chance to pull the prime minister
Patti Wood, expert in body closer, almost turning his hand
language, said:
downwards. During the really
long handshake, the President
“This shows deep lack of trust for patted Shinzo Abe’s hand, as a
each other. As they shake hands, subtle sign of power or, how some
Trump pulls Obama in toward experts say, pettiness.
him, to show he is going to be the
one in charge. If you look at their
facial expressions as they shake
hands, you will see both men have
their lips tightly pressed together.
And their chins are pulled up and
wrinkled with distaste.”

We use our hands all the time, but when we interact with other people
we are not aware of how strong the impact of our body language can
influence someone’s opinion of us. The gestures we make using our
hands are the most direct and impactful of all.
Even though hand gestures are meaningful, it is equally important to
pay attention to the body language as a whole.

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bestquotescenter.win
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Messinger, J. M. (2014). Cartea Gesturilor. Bucharest: ALL.

• Pease, A. (1992). BODY LANGUAGE - How to read others’ thoughts

by their gestures (18th Edition ed.). London: Sheldon Press.

• Navarro, J. (2014). What Every Body Is Saying. An Ex-FBI Agent’s

Guide to Speed-Reading People. Bucharest: Meteor Publishing.

• Neha, G. (2013, March). Effective body language in organizations.

IUP Journal Of Soft Skills, 35.

• Beattie, P. G. (2016, 08 25). “What does Donald Trump’s body

language say about him?”. (A. Stevens, Interviewer) Euronews.

• Wood, P. (2017, 03 29). A body language expert breaks down 6 of

Trump’s handshakes. (B. Insider, Interviewer)

• https://pixabay.com

• http://www.mtv.com/news/2734684/what-if-the-2016-
presidential-candidates-had-to-relive-iowa-groundhog-day-
style/

• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President_Barack_
Obama_hosts_a_press_conference_at_the_Pentagon.jpg

• https://www.romper.com/p/donald-trump-responds-to-orlando-
club-shooting-in-the-worst-way-possible-12280

• https://bestquotescenter.win/handshake-gif.html

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CRISTINA - BIANCA
BALTA