ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the movement of the hands and arms and Psychologists call these movements as 'gestures'. Many psychologists consider these gestures to be a form of body language whose function is primarily to do with the expression of emotion or the signalling of interpersonal attitudes in social interaction. Sometimes hand gestures do seem to be part of body language and perform the functions traditionally assumed to be associated with it - the expression of emotions and the sometimes unconscious signalling of interpersonal relationships. The discriminate between unconscious movements produced naturally by the brain and those that are used consciously and deliberately by TV presenters or people 'acting' in everyday life. The psychologists and body language popularisers who tell us that such movements are separate from language and perform essentially social functions are really missing the point. Some hand movements might reflect emotional state.
