Gestures
How unconscious and intentional gestures are used in the world
It’s interesting to think about gestures because, in reality, we never really have to think about gestures; it’s a natural phenomenon. If we all sat in conversations with blank faces using zero hand movements at all, it would feel unnatural. But why? Why is it that gestures are completely normal?
As college students, we have to take so many classes where professors stand in front of us, lecturing. Some might stand behind a podium, some might sit at a table. And I’m sure everyone has had that one teacher who speaks in a monotone voice reading the points off a PowerPoint. I find that these classes are so boring. Do gestures and facial expressions make something more interesting because in some ways they could be considered more distracting?
One of the most interesting classes that I have ever taken is sign language. I decided to take this class because, when I was little, I learned the alphabet and a few other miscellaneous words. In this class we sit in almost complete silence using our hands, face, and body as the only forms of communication. This class is what led me to start noticing how other people use their hands in the hearing world.
Now, to make something very clear, I can hear perfectly fine but approximately 5% (466 million people) of the world are part of the deaf community (World Health Organization). I understand that this is a small portion of the population but, by 2050, an estimated 900 million people could have disabling hearing loss, because, simply put, young people are blaring music in their headphones. This means that there is a potential 5% of the world that use primarily gestures to communicate and these numbers could continue to increase as time goes on. More and more people might have to use their gestures to talk to someone else, so we cannot ignore the fact that sign language exists and is a language made up completely of gestures. Sign language, however, is not distracting because of the number of gestures. I think that the gestures become distracting with someone uses a gesture for every word that they also say out loud.
Not using any gestures at all is awkward but using too many gestures is distracting. Is there a happy medium? Honestly, I don’t know. But I wanted to explore the different ways that gestures are used in the world.
A gesture, as defined in the dictionary, is a way to express an idea using a movement of a part of the body. This could be anything from a facial expression to an action using the entire body. Gestures can be categorized into two large groups: unconscious and intentional.
Unconscious gestures are those natural ‘hand flips’ we do when in conversations that come without even having to think about it. Intentional gestures are the gestures that we use to describe something or use in place of a word. A question that this leads me to now is, where is the line between a gesture and a word? Is it a simple as whether or not a gesture was unconscious or intentional? Or something more complex?
Take perhaps the most common gesture: a point. This could be a gesture motioning to another person, but it could also be a way to say “look” or “go over there” in terms of direction. But now, think about a child. One of the first gestures that a child picks up on is pointing. Sometimes they might be pointing to what they want, perhaps a toy. Other times they might be pointing to a thing, maybe a plane. Or are they merely copying an adult? These children are using their gestures because they don’t have the motor skills to speak. And during this time when they can’t form words, their parents are teaching them how to use their hands. Normally, before they learn an index finger point, they learn to shake their head no, how to reach and raise their arms to be picked up, how to wave, how to clap, and how to blow a kiss. But these become some of the gestures that children use even when they can speak as both unconscious and intentional movements. Gestures can help people in a lot of ways as they grow up but there comes a time when they become distracting and unnecessary.
In Germany, in 2017, Susanne S. Vogt and Christina Kauschke published their study, With Some Help from Others’ Hands: Iconic Gesture Helps Semantic Learning in Children with Specific Language Impairment. The scientists wanted to research the way using a gesture helped children, ages 3–6, learn new words. They had 60 children learn new words including, rare animal species names (nouns), and uncommon actions (verbs). There were two groups of children, those who had previously been diagnosed with a Specific Language Impairment and Typically Developing children. When a gesture was associated with a word, it was very specific. If the action they were learning was “to tippytoe” they would imitate that action with their hands.
With your arms at your side, bend them at the elbows. Now, put your fingertips towards the ground. Bring your hands closer together, pretending your hands are your feet and you need to be very quiet, move your hands up and down, to imitate the action of walking on your toes.
The study showed that the children were able to better describe the new word when it was taught along with a movement (Vogt and Kauschke).
This is one of those scenarios where gestures were taught to be used and meant to be intentional to help with memory. But, that action gesture is a word. If someone were to use that gesture in silence, I would be able to see that as the action “to tippytoe.” If someone just put both of their hands out, palms facing the ground, that is a gesture. The action of moving your hands up in down is, in this case, where the gesture becomes the word. Attaching a visual to a word is seen to increase the results of learning new words, whether that be a foreign word or just a new word in the same language. I know that, for me, sign language has been a much easier language to grasp because it is a purely visual language and some of the words resemble the action in real life. For instance, one of my favorite words, “dance,” resembles the action.
Place your left hand out in front of you, flat, palm facing up. Make a peace sign with your right hand. Pretend, those two fingers are your legs. Point your peace sign towards the floor. Stand your right hand on your left hand (the dance floor) and move those legs around as if you were dancing.
Now, sign language is a little bit different because it is a language made up of gestures. The hand movements are all words that mean something to someone who is deaf, but they mean almost nothing to everyone who doesn’t choose to learn sign language. Let’s, for a moment examine the sign for dance. The left-hand movement, where you just put your hand in front of you is a gesture and thus unconscious. If you were to extend it in a given direction, it would then become a word. The right-hand movement, the peace sign, is an intentional gesture that means “peace.” It’s a gesture for a word. It can also mean the number two, which once again is a word. The peace sign gesture can be used in silence and it still has meaning.
One of the things that fascinates me about intentional gestures however, are the ways that they can mean different things in different countries. I have found that intentional gestures mostly let someone else know how you are feeling without you having to speak. A thumbs-up for example, can stand alone. It can mean “good, yes, and I understand,” depending on the context. Thumbs-down means the opposite. In Afghanistan, Iran, and Greece, the thumbs-up symbol is offensive. Another meaning that this gesture holds, primarily in the United States, is “I need a ride.” When people don’t have a car or are hitchhiking, they will stick out their thumb on the side of the road. I’m sure that there are plenty of other meanings for this symbol but all of them are intentional. You would never see someone having a conversation and use that gesture, naturally. Maybe out of habit, but I believe that is a different kind of natural.
Some of the other intentional gestures that we use here in the US that do not mean the same thing elsewhere, are the rock on sign, crossing your fingers, the okay symbol, the wave, and the nod.
The rock on sign, an intentional gesture that shows enjoyment, typically at concerts, tells someone in countries such as, Brazil, Columbia, Spain, Portugal, and Italy that their spouse is cheating on them (Cipolla). Weird, right? It’s incredibly specific. I don’t think anyone really uses this gesture naturally. It is also not nearly as common now as it was in the 80s. Back then, when rock and roll was more popular, people everywhere used the gesture, and sometimes even stuck out their tongue along with that. It was much more of a natural gesture, perhaps out of habit, 30 years ago. Also, if the rest of the world used the symbol, by a way of fitting in, more people would continue to make their hand look like bull horns during concerts.
Crossing your fingers is a sign of good luck in a lot of countries. I find myself saying “cross your fingers!” quite a bit especially if I am wishing for something to happen. In sign language, this gesture means, “ready,” if you shake your hands. However, in Vietnam, the gesture is a very obscene object (Anderson and Stuart).
The okay symbol, which can also stand on its own as a way to say, “all good, okay, and got it,” does not mean any of those things in France, Belgium, or Brazil. In France and Belgium, the gesture means “zero” or “worthless” and in Brazil, it’s just rude (Cipolla).
The other two gestures that I haven’t mentioned yet are a bit more grey. The wave and the nod. They both are almost unconscious gestures and also intentional. Across the world, both of these gesture can mean “no” in select places. But because they are so common to use in the United States, they feel very natural. The wave can be used to say “hello” and “goodbye.” Because we say hello and goodbye so often, sometimes I find myself waving without even thinking about it. And the nod, is even more natural. When you nod, it can be a way to say “yes” and “I understand” but in conversations, the nod shows that you are listening and paying attention. Once again, sometimes I find myself nodding without even thinking about it when someone else is talking to me. They both, however, can stand on their own. Thus, I would say that the nod is more unconscious than intentional, and the wave is more intentional than unconscious.
When thinking about gestures, you have to think about how the professionals tell you to use them. You know, those intentional gestures that are supposed to look natural. There are lots of people who study gestures as their career, to figure out which gestures help you the most in conversations and presentations. One scientist, Vanessa Van Edwards, has even written an article about the 7 kinds of gestures you should use if you want to increase the value of your message. She analyzed some TED Talks and found that the least popular presenters used an average of 272 gestures where as the most popular TED Talkers used an average of 465 gestures (Edwards). This leads me to believe that gesture do increase how interesting a topic is. By using lots of gestures, it can help keep your audience’s attention.
All of the gestures that Edwards suggest that we use are to help you to be more memorable during presentations and conversations. The first type of gestures that are important to use are numbers. If you have 3 roommates, showing someone the number three will help them remember. Just like when you use a visual to show a number, showing a visual when you are talking about something increasing or decreasing is also known help people remember your concept. When it comes to emotions, putting your hand near your heart shows someone how much you care about something, whether that be something they are talking about or something you are passionate about. The last few categories of gestures to use if you want to be more memorable, are gestures that separate things, bring things together, and bring people together. In terms of these specific gestures, they seem more natural. More people use these in conversations naturally and they don’t have to learn to use them. In fact, using two hands to talk about two contrasting ideas, seems to be the best way to help someone understand what you are talking about (Edwards).
Now, considering that I have officially spent a lot of time watching people speak with their hands, I think it will always be on my mind. Even when I was watching a video of Vanessa Van Edwards speak, I was so focused on her hand movements, that they started to become distracting; she used so many. She was also explaining gestures, but I don’t think there was one time where her hands were just resting on the table. They were always moving. As I watched her speak, I started wondering how other people use their hands when they know they are being filmed so, I watched a movie and looked for all the gestures that were intentional and unconscious.
The movie I decided to watch was Home Alone. I have seen the movie many times, and it is a great holiday classic. Going into it, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I figured that actors and actresses use quite a few gestures to make their acting look real. If they used none, it would show an uncomfortableness from the audience, because gestures are natural. Considering that the movie features a young person, I guessed that the actor would use less unconscious gestures. Child actors are more uncomfortable on stage than their elders, as they have had less practice in front of people.
Essentially, I performed my own study. Every time I saw a character use their hands, I made a tally under either the unconscious or intentional column. When it was intentional, I then determined what word the gesture meant in the context. After the movie finished, I counted the number of tallies in each column: 15 intentional, 75 unconscious. I am certainly not an expert in gestures so I, most definitely could have missed many others.
Overall, I found that more unconscious gestures were used and none of them felt taught or distracting. There was a balance, they were natural and the actors and actresses used them in conversation, just as they would if they were not on set in front of 10 cameras.
When it comes to intentional gestures, I think that they are performed a lot more in silence, but in the movie, less were used in silence. They were paired with speech. A shrug of the shoulders can stand along to mean “I don’t know.” In the movie, this was used once by a young actor in which he also said the words, “I dunno.”
The most common gesture used in this movie, was the gesture for “go,” which was always an open hand point, in a certain direction. The second most common gesture was the index finger point. The movie actually starts with a police officer standing in a house, pointing, saying “hey,” to try to get the attention of someone, anyone. As the movie continues, there is more pointing and more unconscious gestures. Since the movie is very much an action and comedy, there are less conversations where natural gestures are used. This is one of the ways that celebrities on screen and regular people differ when it comes to gestures.
Another one of the things that I did to look for gestures in the “real world” was sit in a public place and watch to see what kinds of gestures people used. I, unfortunately, picked a bad time to do so because it is the middle of finals week, so students are so busy and less engaged in conversations. This allowed me to think more about when we don’t use gestures and when it becomes awkward to not use any. If you are eating or your hands are busy, it is not awkward. If you are talking to someone and aren’t any gestures, including not even nodding along, that’s when it becomes awkward.
There are a lot of people who speak with their hands and it might be a comfort level. If you think about it, when you speak with your hands a lot, it allows you to put more room in between you and the person you are talking to. It also allows you to always have your hands somewhere in front of you. If you always keep your hands by your side, you are more exposed. For me, when I am speaking in front of people, I like to keep my hands in front of me but I am also using natural gestures along with my words. If a presenter does not use gestures at all when they are standing in front of people, it becomes uninteresting and I believe, more awkward.
The one thing I haven’t quite figured out yet is how people become so expressive with their hands. Have you ever met someone who with every word, they use a gesture? I have, and this person didn’t know how to speak without using their hands. Are we born with the need to use our hands, does it come out of habit, or is it comfort? It’s got to be a mix of all three, especially because no two people’s gestures are exactly the same.
Sometimes, the use of gestures helps us remember something, whether that be a word in a foreign language or just the next word we need to say. But gestures are certainly not pointless. They have meaning and are natural. They start when we are children. There was a time in your life when you spoke purely using gibberish words and gestures. You were probably misunderstood all the time but without that time in your life, you would not be able to use gestures as well as you can now. Using gestures reveals meaning without having to speak. Gestures allow us to communicate with someone when we aren’t allowed to speak or if they don’t speak the same language. It can also help us to speak to someone who might have a hearing loss. Even the older generation, who lose their hearing from age, understand the gestures. I am not telling you that you must always use gestures, but they can help you and others understand something that you can’t always put into words. Intentional or unconscious, all gestures mean something.
So, where does a gesture become a word? I believe that it becomes a word when there is a conscious movement associated with the gesture. When the gesture can stand alone and mean something, it’s a word. When multiple natural gestures are used together to put meaning to something, it’s a word. Of course, there will always be a grey area between them and I’m pretty sure there will never be a list of gestures that are unconscious and gestures that are intentional. It is important, however, to be aware of your surroundings and make sure you don’t use an offensive gesture in a different country. If you want to grab someone’s attention, you might want to purposefully use more natural gestures. Don’t let anyone tell you that you use too many gestures or too little. Be comfortable, and allow gestures to come naturally.
Bibliography
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Cipolla, Luciano. “What Hand Gestures Mean in Different Countries.” Busuu Blog, 6 May 2018, https://blog.busuu.com/what-hand-gestures-mean-in-different-countries/.
Deafness and Hearing Loss. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss. Accessed 12 Dec. 2018.
Goldin-Meadow, Susan, and Martha Wagner Alibali. “Gesture’s Role in Speaking, Learning, and Creating Language.” Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 64, 2013, pp. 257–83.
“Hand Gestures in Different Cultures Not Many of Us Are Aware Of.” SocialMettle, https://socialmettle.com/hand-gestures-in-different-cultures. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
Stuart, David and Anderson, Matthew. “Hand Gestures That Could Get You in Serious Trouble in Other Countries.” Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/hand-gestures-offensive-countries-world-2017-6. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
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Vogt, Susanne S. and Christina Kauschke. “With Some Help From Others’ Hands: Iconic Gesture Helps Semantic Learning in Children With Specific Language Impairment.” Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, vol. 60, no. 11, Nov. 2017, pp. 3213–25.