The Hidden Meaning of The Arm Twister Handshake
Cue: Arm Twister Handshake
Synonym(s): N/A
Description: In the arm twister handshake, an otherwise ordinary handshake turns sour by being twisted underneath into the submissive palm up position.
In One Sentence: The arm twister handshake is a resistance to submission and represents the struggle to avoid having the hand turned palm up.
How To Use it: Twist the arm back to level when facing a habitual palm down handshakers to put him in his place. This is a high risk maneuver because it will be obvious to the palm-down shaker that will be no longer permitted unfettered dominance.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “We started the handshake off evenly with palm vertical, but I’m taking charge of this now and I’m going to wrench your hand until I get palm up dominance and authority.”
Variant: Sometimes a dominant handshaker will also offer their palm facing upwards almost vertically making it nearly impossible to gain the upper hand position. See Country Handshake (The), Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake, Double Gripper Politician Handshake or Double Hander (The), Short Grabber/Finger Grabber Handshake, Oddball Handshake, Palm Up, Palm Down and Palm Even Handshakes, Stiff Arm And Thrust Forward Handshake, Death Grip Handshake, Wrench Forward Handshake, Undershaker Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake and Upper Arm Grip Handshake, Limp Fish Handshake, Teacup Handshake, Arm Twister Handshake (The), Firm handshake, Fist Bumping.
Cue In Action: The boss has had problems with one of his employees who has continuously undermined his leadership. The time the boss wanted to make it clear that he wasn’t going to put up with the disrespect of his employee so when they shook hands he twisted his arm over and pull him into his personal space to show him he was in charge.
Meaning and/or Motivation: Someone who does this is absolutely committed to being on top and dominating the other person.
Cue Cluster: The arm twister handshake can be combined with other dominant body language such as standing over another person, pulling a person into their personal space, placing a hand on the shoulder and gripping the hand more firmly than ordinary.
Body Language Category: Dominant body language, Hostile body language, Anger, Threat displays, Authoritative body language.
Resources:
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Dolcos, Sanda ; Sung, Keen ; Argo, Jennifer J ; Flor-Henry, Sophie ; Dolcos, Florin. The power of a handshake: neural correlates of evaluative judgments in observed social interactions. Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 2012 24(12): 2292-305.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05154.
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