Hand gestures and their meaning have been studied for a long time, and the researchers are doing a truly colossal job.
There are a huge number of different works and developments in this area, but human movements are so diverse that it is sometimes just impossible to catch them all exactly. In general, body movements can be divided into intentional and unintentional, that is, reflex, which we carry out without noticing it. It is these hand gestures that can tell a lot about a person, as well as how he relates to what he says or sees at the time of communication and gesturing.
When a person cheats
If a person is lying, he will surely betray himself by touching his face. The manifestation of such gestures in children is especially noticeable, as if trying to cover their mouth in order to stop telling lies. With age, gestures using the face and hands become less noticeable, but they undoubtedly indicate that the speaker is lying. If someone covers his mouth while the other speaks, this means that he doubts the veracity of the words of the interlocutor. At the same time, some researchers are sure that such hand gestures and their meaning should be considered together with other movements and a subsequent analysis of what a person says: sometimes touching a face can mean nothing. A masked version of the described gesture is touching the nose.
Interestingly, a lie can cause itching in the muscle tissue of the neck, so pulling back the collar can also indicate fraud. Here you need to be careful, maybe the shirt is just tight, or the person has irritation after shaving.
Boredom
If the listener is bored (for example, at a lecture or business meeting), he will surely put his hand in order to lean his head on it. These hand gestures and their meaning are obvious: this is a sure sign that he is supporting his head so that it does not “fall” if he suddenly falls asleep. Moreover, the degree of support shows how boring the listener is: if he completely lies down on his arm - he is very bored, if he just slightly touches his head or cheek - the degree of boredom is small. A signal of impatience is also tapping feet on the floor or fingers on the table. If the lecturer sees that half of the audience is leaning on his hand, and the other half is tapping his fingers on the table, it is better for him to finish his speech.
Evaluating hand gestures and their meaning
If a person props his cheek with his fist when the
index finger is pressed into the temple, we are dealing with an evaluation pose. If the index finger is pointing towards the temple, and the large chin rests, the listener most likely does not like the lecturer or subject of the lecture. In addition, any propping up of your face with your hand is associated with boredom or negative attitude, so if you want to show someone that you are interested in listening to him or what he is talking about, take care of yourself and do not use such movements.
Decision Gestures
Evaluation movements for making a decision are connected with the fact that a person wants to put something in his mouth. For example, the one who wears glasses will put a shackle of glasses in his mouth. It can be a pen, a pipe and other items. In this position, a person makes decisions, and if he continues to do this, even when he needs to speak out, this indicates that he wants to think more and wait for the decision to be announced.
In fact, gestures and their meaning are very difficult to understand. This article describes only a few of them very briefly and superficially. There are many more signals of human goodwill, mistrust, interest, lies, and more. Very detailed gestures of a person and their meanings were described by Alan Pease. “Body Language” is his famous book that will help those who are interested open their eyes to the rich variety of gestures and what is hidden behind them.