Body-based conceptions of good and bad
Across many cultures, expressions in language link good with right (the right answer) and bad with left (two left feet). Likewise, classical treatises instruct politicians to gesture mostly with their right hand, and only to use their left hand when delivering bad news. These cultural conventions could explain the right-handers gestures in this study, but not the left-handers. Overall, says Casasanto, the data support the idea that people associate good things with the side of their body they can use most fluently - dominant is fluent, and fluent is good.
Right and left are also linked with political views, but the candidates spontaneous gestures did not follow party lines. Both right-handers showed the good is right pattern, and both left-handers the good is left pattern. The association of good things with ones dominant side is something Democrats and Republicans appear to agree on.
Watch the hands to read the mind
The hand that speakers use to gesture may provide an index of how they feel about what they are saying. Speakers may not know they are sending this message, since people are generally unaware of how they are gesturing, and often unaware that they are gesturing at all.
For some speakers, the link between hand and positive-negative speech may be dramatic enough to observe with the naked eye, particularly in the non-dominant hand, which often makes fewer gestures overall. In these debates, non-dominant hand gestures occurred more often during negative statements than during positive statements by a ratio of about 2 to 1 for Obama, 3 to 1 for Kerry, and 12 to 1 for McCain. Watching politicians hands could help voters to know their minds.
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Original publication:
Casasanto, D. & Jasmin, K. (2010). Good and Bad in the Hands of Politicians: Spontaneous gestures during positive and negative speech. PLoS ONE, 5(7):e11805. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011805.
Download paper: www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011805<
Source: EurekAlert!
