134 W H A T EVERY BODY IS SAYING
hardwired to engage our hands in accurately communicating our emo-
tions, thoughts, and sentiments. Therefore, whether people are speak-
ing or not, hand gestures merit our attention as a rich source of
nonverbal behavior to help us understand the thoughts and feelings
of others.
HOW APPEARANCE AND NONVERBALS OF THE
HANDS AFFECT INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTIONNot only do others’ hands communicate important information to us, but
our own hand movements influence how others perceive us. Therefore, the
way we use our hands—as well as what we learn from the hand behaviors
of others—contribute to our overall interpersonal effectiveness. Let’s start
by examining how our hand actions affect what others think of us.
Effective Hand Movements Enhance Our
Credibility and PersuasivenessThe human brain is programmed to sense the slightest hand and finger
movement. In fact, our brains give a disproportionate amount of atten-
tion to the wrists, palms, fingers, and hands, as compared to the rest of
the body (Givens, 2005, 31, 76; Ratey, 2001, 162–165). From an evolution-
ary standpoint, this makes sense. As our species adopted an upright pos-
ture and our human brain grew ever larger, our hands became more
skilled, more expressive, and also more dangerous. We have a survival
need to assess each other’s hands quickly to see what they are saying or if
they portend ill (as in holding a weapon). Because our brains have a natu-
ral bias to focus on the hands, successful entertainers, magicians, and
great speakers have capitalized on this phenomenon to make their pre-
sentations more exciting or to distract us (see box 35).
People respond positively to effective hand movements. If you wish
to enhance your effectiveness as a persuasive speaker—at home, at work,
even with friends—attempt to become more expressive in your use of