People who talk with their hands seem more clear and persuasive

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A uthor : Giovanni Luca Cascio Rizzo , University of Southern California

When people use hand gestures that visually represent what they’re saying, listeners see them as more clear, competent and persuasive. That’s the key finding from my new research published in the Journal of Marketing Research, where I analyzed thousands of TED Talks and ran controlled experiments to examine how gestures shape communication .

Talking with your hands

Whether you’re giving a presentation, pitching an idea or leading a meeting, you probably spend most of your prep time thinking about what you’ll say. But what about the ways you’ll move your hands?

I grew up in Italy, where gesturi