Body Language of The Handshake
Cue: Handshaking.
Synonym(s): Pressing The Flesh.
Description: A handshake is a type of gesture that is used in greeting where the hands of two people meet palm to palm. A pumping action then takes place.
In One Sentence: Handshaking is a universal greeting expression that carries many meanings depending on how it is performed.
How To Use it: Handshakes carry many hidden meanings. Use a firm handshake that is neither too long or two short (about 3 pumps). Keeping the hand dry, but warm to the touch will produce the best impression. A palm even, neither facing up, nor down, is the default and seen as most diplomatic. To power-play, either hold the hand palm down or twist it down as the handshake progresses. To appear submissive couple a weak handshake with the palm oriented upward.
Use the handshake to make a positive first impression.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I am pleased to meet you. I would like to extend my hand to yours so we can exchange some moderate, yet controlled, and generally impersonal intimacy.”
Variant: 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: When Bob and Doug greeted each other, they extended their hands out vertically with their fingers held together, interlocked the thumbs, and lightly, yet firmly grasped each others palm and moved their hands in unison, palm-to-palm, up and down.
Meaning and/or Motivation: There are three main orientations that can occur during a handshakes. They are palm down (superiority), palm up (submissive) and palm even (equality).
Palm down handshakes emphasizes that a person wishes to control and dominant us, the palm up means someone feels subordinate and an even palm seeks an equal relationship.
See various types of handshakes and their hidden meaning in the “Variant” section.
Cue Cluster: The handshake is a stand-alone cue who’s meaning is interpreted by it’s variant. See the various types of handshake for their meaning and associated cue cluster.
Body Language Category: Comfort body language, Greeting gesture, Friendship touching or friendly touching, Social touching.
Resources:
Aström, J ; Thorell, L H ; Holmlund, U ; D’Elia, G. Handshaking, personality, and psychopathology in psychiatric patients, a reliability and correlational study. Perceptual and motor skills 1993, Vol.77(3 Pt 2): 1171-86.
Chaplin William F.; Phillips Jeffrey B; Brown Jonathan D.; Clanton Nancy R.; Stein Jennifer L.; 2000. Handshaking, gender, personality, and first impressions Journal of personality and social psychology. 79(1): 110-117.
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.
Frumin, Idan; Ofer Perl; Yaara Endevelt-Shapira; Ami Eisen; Neetai Eshel; Iris Heller; Maya Shemesh; Aharon Ravia; Lee Sela; Anat Arzi and Noam Sobel. A Social Chemosignaling Function for Human Handshaking. eLife 2015. 4:e05154
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05154.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/shake-hands-share-human-scent-curious-case-hand-sniffing-body-language/
Fisher, J; Rytting, M and Heslin, R. 1976. Hands touching hands: affective and evaluative effects on interpersonal touch, Sociometry 39: 416–421.
Greenbaum, Paul ; Rosenfeld, Howard. Varieties of touching in greetings: Sequential structure and sex-related differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1980. 5(1): 13-25.
Gueguen, Nicolas. Handshaking and Compliance With a Request – A Door-to-door Setting. Social Behavior and Personality. 2013. 41(10): 1585-1588.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/handshakes-lead-compliance-study/
Hiemstra, Kathleen M. Shake My Hand: Making the Right First Impression in Business With Nonverbal Communications.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included). Business Communication Quarterly. 1999. 62(4): 71.
Jeffrey D. Fisher; Marvin Rytting; Richard Heslin. 1976. Hands Touching Hands: Affective and Evaluative Effects of an Interpersonal Touch. Sociometry, 39(4): 416-421.
Lipsitz, Rebecca (2000). “A Gripping Start.” In Scientific American (September), p. 32.
Morris, Desmond (1994). Bodytalk: The Meaning of Human Gestures (New York: Crown Publishers).
Pease, Barbara and Allan Pease. 2006. The Definitive Book of Body Language Hardcover. Bantam.
Sanda Dolcos; Keen Sung; Jennifer J. Argo; Sophie Flor-Henry and Florin Dolcos. The Power of a Handshake: Neural Correlates of Evaluative Judgments in Observed Social Interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 24; 12: 2292–2305.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/handshake-open-body-language-powerful-nonverbal-effect-brain/?preview=true
Stewart, Greg L. ; Dustin, Susan L. ; Barrick, Murray R. ; Darnold, Todd C. Zedeck, Sheldon (editor). Exploring the Handshake in Employment Interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2008 93(5): 1139-1146.
Spezialetti, Brian D. Do’s and don’ts for winning the job interview. (laboratory technicians). Medical Laboratory Observer. 1995. 27(7): 51-53.
Wesson, David A. The handshake as non-verbal communication in business. (marketing technique). Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 1992. 10(9): 61(6).