What your hand gestures say about your personality

Do you remember the scene in Brooklyn Nine Nine where Gina Linetti tells Captain Holt that he needs to make more hand gestures during a speech to grab people’s attention and more “pizzaz”? Well, she had a point; our hand gestures do give away a lot of aspects of our personality. We’re not asking you to move your hands around like a crazy person, but if you want to know a little bit about others or yourself in certain situations, take note of the hand movements. For instance, a person who is generally nervous or anxious will always hide their hands and an open and creative person will always have their palms open. Oh and if you ever meet someone who doesn’t make any hand gestures remember, it’s a red flag!

Scroll through to learn what different hand gestures say about people's personalities.

Large hand gestures  

If you generally talk with hand gestures that extend outside the outline of your body, it says you are a passionate and free-spirited person. It also shows you are spontaneous and creative, and often act before you think. You create your own path and once you’ve set your sight on a goal, nothing can stop you. 

No hand gestures

Not using hand gestures while talking shows you are a resilient and headstrong person who can be slightly indifferent to others' opinions or are generally disengaged. You also tend to be arrogant sometimes and don’t let people get too close to you very fast.  

Hands open with palms down  

If you tend to keep your hands open and palms facing downwards while talking, you’re confident, humble, and a great conversationalist. You know what you’re saying and large crowds don’t faze you. In other words, you would be a brilliant public speaker! 

Hands open and palms at a 45-degree angle   

Have you often noticed that you keep your palms open while talking? It shows you are an honest and open person. You are fair, decisive, well-read, and have strong opinions but don’t try and enforce it on others. People trust you easily and you are the life of the party! 

Palms facing each other with fingers steepled  

You might’ve seen some world leaders talking with their fingers steepled. This hand gesture is a power pose and symbolises leadership. If you do this gesture often, you are most likely authoritative, smart, kind, and thoughtful. People put you on a pedestal and turn to you for help.