The Definitive Book of Body Language

The Definitive Book of Body Language

Hands clenched in

centre position

Hands clenched in

lower position

We discovered a correlation between the height at which the
hands are held and the degree of the person's frustration: that
is, a person would be more difficult to deal with when the
hands are held high, as in a centre position, than they would
be in a lower position (see illustrations). As with all negative
gestures, you need to take action to unlock the person's
fingers, by offering them a drink or asking them to hold some-
thing, or their negative attitude will remain in the same way it
does with any arm-crossing position.

The Steeple

So far, we've emphasised that gestures come in clusters, like
words in a sentence, and that they must be interpreted in the
context in which you observe them. Steepling can be an excep-
tion to these rules, as it often occurs in isolation. The fingers
of one hand lightly press against those of the other hand to