Demonstrative Gestures
Alejandro Figueroa
BCOM/275 Business Communications and Critical Thinking
January 14, 2013
Gillian Silver

Demonstrative Gestures

After a long day of work, a secretary is approached by her manager. Already upset from her long day of work she slouches in her chair. When she notices her manager approaches she crosses her arms and sighs. She already knows that there is a task she will be assigned with, and she is not in the mood to do it. All of the demonstrative gestures, that she may have not known she was exhibiting, show exactly what she was thinking and feeling. Her manager could figure out that this secretary did not have the ambition to do assigned tasks. This will reflect negatively on the secretary. Demonstrative gestures can tell you many things about a person. Especially what they might be thinking about that they don’t the receiver to know. Although in many cases demonstrative gestures are not always negative. The most important fact about demonstrative gestures is both sender and receiver must understand the differences between positive and negative gestures.

When most people think about demonstrative gestures, like body language or facial expressions, they think about them in a negative light. However, this is not always true. There is a manner in which these gestures can be made to show positive attitude. For example, good posture and eye contact from the receiver in a conversation gives the sender the feeling that a receiver is actively listening. Other positive forms of demonstrative gestures could be as simple as tone of voice. When speaking in a calm voice, a receiver is much more likely to feel calm themselves. However, on the other hand if the receiver can detect anger or sarcasm in a sender’s voice they are much more likely to reciprocate those feelings. Negative demonstrative behavior is very easy to project. It would be impossible as a person to feel optimistic about every situation. Negative demonstrative behavior is allowing those pessimistic feelings to show in other ways that are not verbal. For example, as a sender, something as simple as hand gestures can set the tone for a conversation. A person who is vigorously moving their hands when speaking can be seen as being upset. Although some people do use their hands as a descriptive measure in their speech, others do show anger through hand gestures. Additionally, as a receiver is it just as easy to exhibit negative gestures.

When thinking of two individuals having a conversation it is very easy to place the blame on the sender when a situation becomes negative. However, a receiver has just as much to do with the tone of a conversation as the sender. A receiver is tasked