Women dress better to get men and make babies…
In book Success Signals I talk about a study on gesturing and how it relates to learning, communication, and memory recall. I was re reading it recently as I watched tapes of the candidates for the History Channel Special I shot two weeks ago.
Dr. Susan Wagner Cook and Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow research on gesturing says that, “When people talk they give spontaneous gestures those gestures often reflect thoughts not expressed in their words.” So that there can be a mismatch between words and gestures. Mismatches’ are found when learners are on the verge of making progress on a task - when they are ready to learn. So when someone says they get but their hands slice downward it could mean I don’t really get. It is a very interesting read. Here are a few key learning’s that I gleaned:
- “Gesture is associated with learning”
- “The relationship between gesture and speech predicts readiness to learn”
- “The fact that gesture conveys information not found in speech paves the way for it to play its own role in communication.”
- “Gesturing lightens cognitive load” So when we gesture as we speak we can learn more, take on more information.
- “Gesture reflects thoughts that learners cannot yet express in speech” So speakers and teachers and parents and partners watch for the truth of gestures.
Interested in learning more…
- Dr. Susan Wagner Cook’s website, including a link to the study
- Dr. Susan Goldin-Meadow’s website, including a link to an NPR radio interview, “Primate Gestures May Be Clue to Human Language” - Link to MSNBC and its recent review of the study. It is interesting to see how media repackages academic studies for public consumption - Link to a similar article those talks about “The Long-Neglected Sister of Language”
- Press release announcing the article — you can see another take on summarizing the article
- Compilation book with over 15 articles, “Nonverbal Communication, Interaction, and Gesture (Approaches to Semiotics)” [links to Amazon.com]
A new study was just published in “Evolution and Human Behavior,” the official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. The study title, “Dominance and the evolution of sexual dimorphism in human voice pitch” can be found in Volume 27, Issue 4, and Pages 283-296 (July 2006). In the abstract (full abstract below), you’ll find “In this study, we examine the relationships among voice pitch, dominance, and male mating success.”
At this point, you may be saying out loud or to yourself, huh, what does this have to do with business storytelling and business communications?
If I started with this description that a new study was just released titled, “Men raise vocal pitch when addressing physically dominant males,” I would bet that you would be interested then and it would make sense.
