The Definitive Book of Body LanguageWhen couples walk hand-in-hand the dominant partner, often 1
the man, walks slightly in front with his hand in the above
position, palm facing backwards while she has her palm facing
forward. This simple little position immediately reveals to an
observer who wears the loincloths in that family.
The Palm-Closed-Finger-Pointed is a fist where the pointed
finger is used like a symbolic club with which the speaker fig-
uratively beats his listeners into submission. Subconsciously, it
evokes negative feelings in others because it precedes a right
over-arm blow, a primal move most primates use in a physical
attack.Pointing finger — 'Do it or else!'The Palm-Closed-Finger-Pointed gesture is one of the most
annoying gestures anyone can use while speaking, particularly
when it beats time to the speaker's words. In some countries
such as Malaysia and the Philippines, finger pointing at a
person is an insult as this gesture is only used to point at
animals. Malaysians will use their thumb to point to people or
to give directions.Our Audience ExperimentWe conducted an experiment with eight lecturers who were
asked to use each of these three hand gestures during a series
of ten-minute talks to a range of audiences and we later
recorded the attitudes of the participants to each lecturer. We
found that the lecturers who mostly used the Palm-Up position
received 84% positive testimonials from their participants,