What Does Your Use Of Your Hands Say About You?
A while ago I became aware of the fact that I am a born signer or manual speaker, depending on how you look at it. It is true that when it comes to cataloging this particularity, there is not yet an established term. Let’s just say I’m one of those people who can’t tell a story without adding hand movements.
This style of communication shows itself especially when I want to provide energy with my messages, as if I want to push my words so that they will strike with great force at my interlocutors.
When I started my search for scientific information about this particularity, I initially thought that it had only to do with the level of natural expressiveness that a person can have. However, recent articles confirm that this trait has far more social influence than we generally believe.
Socially, we believe that the act of gesturing with our hands is simply “a distraction” when it comes to communication. It is also true that it depends on the issue or situation we are talking about. But you’ll agree that using our hands is often more appealing and makes the people around us hang on our every word.
A recent article on the subject in Forbes magazine supports the theory that people who speak with their hands develop better charisma. The habit of using our hands during vocal expression implies a high level of energy and attraction. It brings the speaker closer to his listeners and gives him power in the group he speaks in.
As a result of all this, we are often seen as good leaders who are better able to convince our listeners with our hand gestures. Moreover, when it comes time to use their hands in conjunction with their speech, people with this particularity show great sincerity, as we often have no control over our gestures, thus expressing our emotions with confidence and transparency.
The The Business insider columnist Annie Paul confirms that this is a characteristic of a greater intelligence and acumen in an interview.
In another study, researcher Albert Mehrabian presented the impact of a message with the following percentages: 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% signs and gestures, non-verbal language. With this we know that the verbal element is used to communicate information and the non-verbal to communicate personal states and activities. Mehrabian thus claims that in a conversation between two or more people, the verbal element makes up 35% and more than 65% consists of non-verbal communication.
Everything in us is expressive. When we are aware of the power of language, both verbal and non-verbal, our feelings become sharper and our intelligence develops. Knowing this, I’d like to invite you to watch this video from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where you can get advice on using nonverbal language:
If you use your hands during face-to-face communication, enjoy it. You are definitely effective when you need to communicate and express your emotions to those around you.
