Gestures

Gestures transmit signals, and these signals must come across clearly if we are to understand their messages. They cannot afford to be vague; they must be sharp and difficult to confuse with other signals. To do this they have to develop a "typical form" that shows comparatively little variation. And they must be performed with a "typical intensity", showing much the same speed, strength and amplitude on each occasion that they are brought into action.

It is rather like the ringing of a telephone bell. The signal goes on sounding at fixed intervals at a fixed volume, and with a fixed sound, no matter how urgent the call. No one confuses a telephone bell with a front-door bell or an alarm clock. Its fixed form and its fixed intensity make it unmistakable.

The process is at work in human gestures. When an angry man shakes his fist, the chances are that the speed, force and amplitude of each shake, as the fist jerks back and forth in midair, are much the same on each occasion that he employs this gesture. And there is a reasonable likelihood that his speed, force and amplitude will be similar to those of any other fist-shaker. If you were to perform a fist-shaking gesture in which you slowed down the movement, decreased the force, and increased the distance traveled by the clenched fist, it is doubtful if your signal would be understood. An onlooker might imagine you were exercising your arm, but it is doubtful if he would read the message as a threat display.

Most of our gestures have grown into typical presentations of this kind. We all wave in much the same way. This is not a conscious process. We simply tune in to the cultural norm. Unwittingly, we smooth the path of the hundreds of tiny messages that fly between us whenever we meet and interact. Somehow we manage to match up our gestures with those of our companions, and they do the same with ours. Together we all synchronize the intensities of our gesturing until we are all operating in concert as if under the control of an invisible cultural conductor.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do successful gestures have in common?
2. What characteristics do successful gestures share with telephone bells?
3. A fist-shaking gesture might cause confusion if ____.
4. What does the phrase "tune in to" (Paragraph 4) mean?
5. According to the passage, ____ makes people develop similar gestures.

(Keys.)