The Ultimate Body Language Book

So while we can use hand features to determine congruencies, we also must exercise some caution.
Regardless, hands, their strength and character can give away some tells about a person and their habits
so while we are at it, meaning shaking hands, we might as well collect these cues as they may come in
“handy” in the future.
Chapter 14 - Office Body Language
Types Of Bad Handshakes
The handshake is a very common greeting gesture performed all around the world and up until recently
the style with which they were delivered was anecdotally believe to predict personality traits the people
who did them. Does the “bone crusher” or “wet fish” handshaker really convey that a person is
aggressive or timid? Research conducted in 2000 by Dr. William Chaplin from the University of
Alabama set out to get some facts straight about what the handshake really means. He found one
hundred twelve students to be a part of his study but kept the purpose of it a secrete. They were simply
told there were four parts to the experiment, and they’d be dismissed and welcomed to each part with a
handshake in addition to other formalities. Four of the researchers, two men and two women were
trained for a month on how to perform certain handshakes.
The researchers had students stand next to smaller rooms and as they entered they greeted them by
shaking their hand and then proceeded into the room to fill out a questionnaire. The researchers found
that a firm handshake was related to extroversion and emotional expressiveness rather than shyness and
neuroticism. Women were also rated as more open to experiences when they used a firm handshake.
The results show that our handshakes reveal a lot about our personalities. Women with strong
handshakes can equalize themselves alongside men in the workplace and bring more favourable initial
ratings from others. While an assertive attitude can be considered “pushy” especially in women, a firm
handshake is an acceptable technique to show confidence without appearing too aggressive. According
to Dr. Chaplin a firm handshake is a safe place for women to show their dominance in the workplace.
They also happen automatically, we don’t consciously think about them and therefore we don’t often
realize how good or bad our handshake really is. However, this also means we can tell a lot about
people from how they shake hands because, chances are, it’s what occurs naturally to them. While men
overall have firmer handshakes, the study shows us that women can level the ground simply by
stepping up their firmness.
Chapter 14 - Office Body Language
My Little Handshake Experiment
In effort to research a better handshake I shook hands with a door to door salesman (against my
primary instincts), my ex-employer, my father and brother in-law, my dentist, a lawyer, my accountant,
my wife’s boss, my friends wife, my new tenants and thirty other potential tenants that came for a look,
a real estate agent and his brother, a doctor, a university professor, a banker, my mortgage broker, a
waiter and two new guys that showed up for poker night. In that time I’ve had just about everything
imaginable done to my hand. It was twisted, crushed, pulled, slapped and rotated and lovingly held. My
arm was hugged, pushed, rigorously pumped and yanked practically out of its socket.
From what little research exists on handshakes, the conclusion is that most people aren’t aware of what