Hand gestures make you seem more persuasive, according to new research

Have you ever wanted to make your arguments in a debate just that little bit more persuasive? It makes sense to focus on what we’re saying, but perhaps we need to put more focus on what we’re doing with our hands.

A recent study, published in the Journal of Marketing Research found that gesturing can make you seem more persuasive. However, you should be intentional about the type of hand gestures you’re using, because only some of them seem to have any effect. The study examined over 2,000 TED Talks using AI and automated video analysis. They compared hundreds of thousands of videos depicting hand gestures to audience engagement metrics and asked participants to rate the speakers and products in clips of sales pitches with various hand motions.

If a person uses their hands to visibly illustrate what they’re talking about, the audience perceives that this person has more knowledge and can make things easier to understand

Mi Zhou, Co-author of the study

They then sorted the hand movements into two categories: highlighters and illustrators. Highlighters are gestures that are used to physically identify an object mentioned verbally; however, these had little to no effect. Movements that don’t match the message – such as random waving – offer no benefit, and can even distract the listener from the point in some cases. Illustrators, on the other hand, are gestures that depict what a person is talking about, such as the size of something. This includes gestures like spreading your hands when describing how two things are far away from each other. Illustrators had the most impact, as they enhance the audience’s understanding and make the speaker appear more knowledgeable.

Mi Zhou, co-author of the study, explained: “Illustrators can help make the content easier to understand because we’re delivering the same information in two modes: visual and verbal […] If a person uses their hands to visibly illustrate what they’re talking about, the audience perceives that this person has more knowledge and can make things easier to understand.”

Another recent study by the University of Warwick shows that it is instinctive for children to communicate through gestures

The results could be heavily significant to not only individuals, but also to the professional world, particularly for influencers and marketing companies.

Following this, studies are now being conducted to explore whether people can learn to improve how they gesture, in a similar way to developing a second language. Early pilot tests show that even a five-minute training session helps people’s speaking become clearer and more effective through the use of appropriate hand gestures.

Don’t you think it makes sense that humans need nonverbal communication to get their ideas across effectively? Is gesturing instinctive? Hand gestures are used by many cultures to get points across in a range of social circumstances – Mi Zhou noted this similarity when she moved from Italy to America. Additionally, another recent study by the University of Warwick shows that it is instinctive for children to communicate through gestures. Dr Kita from the University’s Department of Psychology led the study, and stated: “Just as young children are good at learning languages, they also tend to make their communication look more like a language.”

So, the next time you need to convince someone, keep in mind that what you say with words isn’t the only thing that matters.