Non-verbal Language: What Do Our Hands Reveal?

For some time I have acquired the awareness of being a gestural or manual speaker, depending on how you want to define me. Certainly, when it comes to cataloging this particularity, there is still no precise term or expression. Let’s say I’m one of those people who can’t help but tell a story without even using their hands.

A mimic that feeds and accompanies my testimonies and my stories.

This style of communication manifests itself in particular when I want to charge my messages with energy, as if I wanted to give my words the necessary strength to clash with my interlocutors.

When I started doing scientific research on this particularity, at first I thought it had to do with the level of natural expressiveness that a person possesses. However, recent articles ensure that this feature has more social influence than we think.

In general, we think that the act of hand gesturing is simply a form of distraction when communicating. Obviously it also depends on the case and the situation in which we find ourselves. Often, however, and you too will agree with me, using your hands attracts more attention and makes our interlocutors even more interested in what we are saying.

A recent article on this topic, published in Forbes magazine , supports the following theory: Those who speak using their hands develop a more charismatic character. The habit of moving the hands to accompany the vocally expressed message implies a great dose of energy and attraction, because the hands transmit more emotion.

This allows the person with this particularity to relate more easily to others, giving him a particular enthusiasm that we commonly call charisma. This aspect of the character arouses great attraction and generates considerable power within the group of interlocutors.

Charisma is an aspect that also characterizes leaders and the habit of gesturing with the hands reflects a great ability to convince the interlocutors. Furthermore, when they use their hands, people with this particularity transmit great sincerity, perhaps in an unconscious way because gesturing also means expressing their emotions transparently.

Annie Paul, a columnist for the online newspaper Business Insider , confirms that using your hands is a hallmark of greater intelligence and insight in the conversation.

Another study, conducted by researcher Albert Mehrabian, analyzed the impact of a communicative message in terms of percentages: 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% signs and gestures, i.e. non-verbal language. This makes us understand that the verbal component is used to communicate information, while the non-verbal component is used to transmit moods and personal attitudes. Mehrabian therefore states that in a conversation between two or more people, the verbal component is 35% and the non-verbal component, on the other hand, represents more than 65%.

Everything about us expresses something. When we are aware of the power of language, both verbal and non-verbal, our senses intensify and our intelligence develops. If you want to deepen the subject, we invite you to watch the videos of the writer and philosopher Elsa Punset, who teaches how to recognize and manage emotions and non-verbal language.

If you are among those people who have the awareness and the power to gesticulate during a conversation, then take advantage of them. For sure, you know how to communicate and express your emotions to the people around you very effectively.