Types of Hand Gestures in Nonverbal Communication

- We are going to talk about the five types of gestures

in nonverbal communication and then let you decide

whether or not you think this is practical information

or something that should just happen naturally.

And I have a quiz at the end of the video

to see if you can keep track

of which of these five are which.

So let's get into the details.

(upbeat music)

Hey there, Alex Lyon here.

And as you may know, I teach college and I'm all set up

to do some college videos in this time of the virus.

So I thought I would use this set up

to talk about the five kinds of gestures.

And I'm working out of little John Foss' "Old Souls" book

on theories of human communication.

They're basing their part of the chapter

on some original research by Ekman and Freisen

from decades ago on the five types of gestures.

And there is a quiz at the end

to see if you were making sense, but don't worry,

it's an ungraded quiz.

So let's talk about these five.

The first one is emblems and emblem can be translated

into a specific verbal message.

So this is a kind of gesture like the victory gesture

or possibly the thumbs up gesture.

It is meant to mean something specific.

And the way I remember this is that sometimes you have

an emblem or a logo on your clothing

and the company, the brand, wants other people to see that

and recognize that.

There's a specific meaning to an emblem or a logo.

And the gestures that are considered emblems

are supposed to have a specific meaning.

Number two is illustrators, and these are used to depict

or enhance the words that are being said.

So if I am moving my hand, while I say,

let's move the chairs over there,