The Definitive Book of Body Language

The Definitive Book of Body Language

same. This doesn't mean a woman in business needs to act in

a masculine way; she simply needs to avoid signals of female-

ness such as soft handshakes, short skirts and high heels if she

wants equal credibility.

Women who show high feminine signals in

a serious business meeting lose credibility.

In 2001, William Chaplin at the University of Alabama con-

ducted a study into handshakes and found that extroverted

types use firm handshakes while shy, neurotic personalities

don't. Chaplin also found that women who are open to new

ideas used firm handshakes. Men used the same handshakes

whether they were open to new ideas or not. So it makes good

business sense for women to practise firmer handshaking, par-

ticularly with men.

The Submissive Handshake

The opposite of the dominant handshake is to offer your hand
(striped sleeve) with your palm facing upwards (as below),
symbolically giving the other person the upper hand, like a
dog exposing its throat to a superior dog.

The submissive handshake