1 . When I was in high school, my history teacher tried an experiment with a classmate known for her enthusiastic and expressive communication style. The girl had raised her hand to answer a question, and the teacher challenged her to reply while keeping her hands folded in her lap. I’ve never forgotten the sight of her struggling to get her words out while her hands were restrained (限制) .

We all, to some extent or another, talk with our hands. It’s part of how we communicate. But as Susan Goldin-Meadow, a professor and psychologist at the University of Chicago, explains in her newest book, that’s just the beginning.

What she discovered are an astonishing number of ways in which our hands not only help us to emphasize(or sometimes contradict) our spoken words, but they also play a vital role in how we form our ideas. As Goldin-Meadow shows, even people blind from birth use gestures.

People who don’t have arms will experience a phantom (幻觉) feeling they are gesturing. We gesture when someone we’re talking to can’t see us, such as on the phone. We gesture when we’re all alone, trying to compose an email. We need to gesture to make sense of the world.

“Gestures and language really are a single integrated system. It’s not just a system that linguists study,” said Goldin-Meadow. “There’s so much information that isn’t captured by our words, and by all of the conventional things that we learn from language. For that purpose, certainly as a psychologist, I think it’s very important to take these kinds of things seriously.”

There’s a huge literature on body language. It really does convey lots of things-attitude perspective, sense of self, and more. Most of them are about how we feel, and our perception of our interaction. What the hands contribute—and the face can do this, too-is not just our attitudes to the conversation, but the content of the conversation.

3 . Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it.     1     Yet language is not the only way to express our ideas and feelings. Body movement, eye contact, gesture, and facial expression are other forms of language we call nonverbal communication.     2     According to Social Anthropologist, Edward T. Hall, in a normal conversation between two persons, less than 15% of social meaning is transmitted (传达) by words.

Different cultures have different ways of using nonverbal communication and people have different gestures to convey their expressions. However, nonverbal communication, like traffic, is not random (随意的);it has a purpose.     3     Learning the different common rules of body language in different cultures is very useful for us to understand each other better.

People coming from the same culture share common understanding by using the same body language such as eye management, facial expressions, gestures, and body movements.     4     For example, “arms”, which are used little by Nordics during a conversation, are an important element in one’s communicative weaponry (武器) in Italy, Spain, and South America.     5     In these cultures, one should stand with feet pressed together and hands interlaced (交错) in front of the body. In cultures such as America, where you often stand with your feet shoulder­length apart, arms at your side, standing in this fashion might be interpreted as being shy and insecure.

5 . Over the past century, science has made lots of advances in understanding the meanings of body language. Here are some of the most useful findings.

Open palm(手掌)

Have you noticed how someone swears to tell the truth in a court of law? He usually puts one hand on a religious book and raises the other hand into the air, palm facing whoever he is speaking to. He does this because an open palm has been associated with truth and honesty throughout our history.     1     . So we cannot be a threat to anyone.

Finger pointing

If someone is closing their palm and pointing with their index finger, then he is trying to display power, though it doesn’t always work out. Psychologists say, the pointed finger is used like a symbolic stick with which the speaker tries to beat his listeners.     2     .

Forced smile

Researchers say, smile is all about the lines around the eyes.     3     . If he is trying to force a smile, you won’t see the lines and the facial expression tends to be very awkward. Making a genuine smile-also known as a Duchenne smile-is nearly impossible to do on command. So look for a lack of lines around the eyes to detect a forced smile.

    4    

In the same way that real smiles shape the lines around the eyes, worry, shock or fear can cause people to raise their eyebrows in discomfort. So if someone praises your new hairstyle or clothes with his eyebrows raised, he or she may not be sincere.

Crossed arms

    5     While crossed arms typically indicate that someone is closed off, people are also more likely to cross their arms when it’s cold and when their chair doesn’t have an armrest. Be aware of the environment before making a decision or changing strategy based on these types of behaviors.

6 . Have you ever watched a silent television show and tried to predict how the characters were feeling according to their body language? The ability to understand people’s body language is a skill that’s almost born inside of us.     1    . This skill develops as we grow older, which is called non-verbal communication.

Body language helps us communicate what we’re feeling without saying much at all. Think about a time when you were very angry. Did you clench (咬紧) your teeth? Did your palms get sweaty when you were anxious? In most cultures, these cues (线索) that reveal emotional states are quite common. But gestures have specific meanings across different cultures. Take touch for example.     2    . In India, however, the ideal way to greet someone is by touching their feet, not by shaking their hand.

In some places, gestures meaning hellos and goodbyes and touches indicating friendship and love are all the same. But the problem arises because some gestures have vastly different meanings in different cultures. For example, the “OK” symbol is used as a superb symbol in India, but in Turkey, this symbol is considered offensive (冒犯性的).     3    .

So, what should we do? Should we not use gestures at all? Of course not.     4    . No matter how much we try to stop ourselves, we will end up communicating non-verbally in some way or another.

    5    , you’d better make a quick Google search or turn to a comprehensive book to better interact with the locals, and avoid offending them during your stay!

7 . Making eye contact isn’t always easy. It can feel uncomfortable at times, especially when you haven’t yet built a relationship with the other person.     1    

Eye contact helps others remember what you said. When you share eye contact during a conversation, you’ll remember more of what the other person said. The reverse (相反的情况) is true as well.     2     Research found that during a video call, participants remembered more of the information from the call when there was more eye contact included.     3     The researchers found that a direct gaze for 30% of the conversation is all it takes for participants to significantly increase what they remembered from the call.

    4     Being self-aware means that you are aware of what’s currently happening with your body. And eye contact can help with that, according lo research from the University of Paris. Researchers found that we’re more focused on our own bodies and behavior when other people look at us.

Eye contact creates attraction. Eye contact attraction is a real thing. Research showed that humans find other people more attractive when they make eye contact. Smiling can also help create attraction.     5     Workmates and leaders will be more inclined (想) to build relationships with you when you look them in the eye. On the other hand, no eye contact can show a lack of confidence.