I was talking to a friend about something recently. During our conversation, she asked me if I was happy with something she'd just suggested. I didn't have the face to tell that I wasn't, so replied "yep, that sounds fine with me" in my most convincing voice possible. She looked at me, puzzled, and said "then why are you shaking your head?"
This is a great example of how we can say one thing with speech, but 'say' something completely different with our gestures. Speech is engineered, planned and controlled, whereas nonverbal actions, such as gestures, are spontaneous, unplanned movements. So, while we have a lot of control over what we say out loud, our nonverbal behaviour is much harder to control (and ends up giving a lot more away).>
In a blog post last year, I explained that police interviewers could mislead eyewitnesses with their hand gestures. (In one of my experiments, I found that when an interviewer stroked his chin while asking participants if they could describe a man's facial features, they were more likely to remember him having a beard.) We know from previous research that eyewitnesses can be influenced by misleading questions, but it's interesting to see that police may also mislead witnesses when they gesture.
What makes these results more interesting is that people may not even realise they're communicating something to someone through their gestures. We know that we can often 'say' something nonverbally without really intending to, or even being aware that we have afterwards. But if our nonverbal behaviour plays such an important role in communication, why wouldn't we be aware of it?
Think about when we're talking to people on the phone; we'll probably gesture a lot during the conversation (especially when we're describing something visual, or giving someone directions) even though they can't see us. It might seem bizarre that we gesture when noone can see us, but the main reason for this is that we don't always gesture for the sake of other people, we gesture because it helps us to talk. This is particularly true when we're describing objects that we use our hands for (such as a hammer or a corkscrew). Try recalling in detail how you would make a cup of tea - I'm pretty sure it won't be long before you catch yourself gesturing while you're describing!
Another reason we gesture is that it helps us to think. When we're trying to remember something, we'll probably make some motions with our hands as we try to think of the word. (Researchers have found that when words are on "the tip of our tongue" we're more likely to remember them if we gesture.) So, gestures can actually help us to think, as well as to speak.
There are a lot of reasons why we gesture - not just to help us communicate to people. Even when gestures are produced to help us, they still give away information to people. However, because gestures are so useful to us, it's nearly impossible to 'switch them off'! As we know that we can 'leak' information to people through our gestures (and it's very difficult to lie to someone through a gesture) this makes them a fascinating thing to study in police interviews and beyond!
This is a great example of how we can say one thing with speech, but 'say' something completely different with our gestures. Speech is engineered, planned and controlled, whereas nonverbal actions, such as gestures, are spontaneous, unplanned movements. So, while we have a lot of control over what we say out loud, our nonverbal behaviour is much harder to control (and ends up giving a lot more away).>
In a blog post last year, I explained that police interviewers could mislead eyewitnesses with their hand gestures. (In one of my experiments, I found that when an interviewer stroked his chin while asking participants if they could describe a man's facial features, they were more likely to remember him having a beard.) We know from previous research that eyewitnesses can be influenced by misleading questions, but it's interesting to see that police may also mislead witnesses when they gesture.
What makes these results more interesting is that people may not even realise they're communicating something to someone through their gestures. We know that we can often 'say' something nonverbally without really intending to, or even being aware that we have afterwards. But if our nonverbal behaviour plays such an important role in communication, why wouldn't we be aware of it?
Think about when we're talking to people on the phone; we'll probably gesture a lot during the conversation (especially when we're describing something visual, or giving someone directions) even though they can't see us. It might seem bizarre that we gesture when noone can see us, but the main reason for this is that we don't always gesture for the sake of other people, we gesture because it helps us to talk. This is particularly true when we're describing objects that we use our hands for (such as a hammer or a corkscrew). Try recalling in detail how you would make a cup of tea - I'm pretty sure it won't be long before you catch yourself gesturing while you're describing!
Another reason we gesture is that it helps us to think. When we're trying to remember something, we'll probably make some motions with our hands as we try to think of the word. (Researchers have found that when words are on "the tip of our tongue" we're more likely to remember them if we gesture.) So, gestures can actually help us to think, as well as to speak.
There are a lot of reasons why we gesture - not just to help us communicate to people. Even when gestures are produced to help us, they still give away information to people. However, because gestures are so useful to us, it's nearly impossible to 'switch them off'! As we know that we can 'leak' information to people through our gestures (and it's very difficult to lie to someone through a gesture) this makes them a fascinating thing to study in police interviews and beyond!
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