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Thinking with your hands : the surprising science behind how gestures shape our thoughts / Susan Goldin-Meadow.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Basic Books, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: vii, 263 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781541600805
  • 1541600800
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Introduction: My journey into gesture -- Part I. Thinking with our hands : Why do we use our hands when we talk? ; Our hands reflect our minds ; Our hands can change our minds -- Part II. Speaking with our hands : As long a there are humans, there will be language ; Watching language grow naturally and in the lab -- Part III. Why you should care about hands : Using hands to parent ; Using hands to diagnose and treat ; Using hands to educate ; What if gesture were considered as important as language?
Summary: "Imagine a friend who earnestly tells you that he thinks men and women are equally good leaders. But when he talks about men's leadership skills, he places his palm at eye-level, and when he talks about women's leadership skills, he places his palm a bit lower, at mouth-level. His hands have given him away: even if he truly thinks that his views are egalitarian, he holds an implicit belief that is now there for all the word to see. You swear you heard him say something disparaging, even if you don't fully realize why. In Thinking With Your Hands, cognitive psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow reveals just how essential gestures are to how we think and communicate. Drawing on decades of research, including experiments and studies from throughout her own illustrious career, Goldin-Meadow presents the definitive overview of the most important feature of human communication that you've never thought about. Gesture is a universal behavior common to every culture and language. It's found among Deaf people who use their hands to speak in sign language and blind people who have never seen anyone gesture before. Far from being an affective flourish, Goldin-Meadow argues, gestures are an integral piece of the conversation-even if we don't realize it while we're using them. They give form to ideas that are difficult to phrase in language and help us express ideas that we are grappling with but haven't yet fully grasped. Indeed, understanding gesture compels us to re-think everything from to how we set development milestones for children, to what's admissible in a court of law, to whether FaceTime is a good communication technology. A landmark achievement by a star in the field of cognitive psychology, Thinking With Your Hands reveals the entire landscape of communication that's hidden in our hands and promises to transform the way we think about language for decades to come"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 153.69 G619 Available 33111011066202
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 153.69 G619 Available 33111011289366
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An astounding account of how gesture, long overlooked, is essential to how we learn and interact, which "changes the way you think about yourself and the people around you." (Ethan Kross, bestselling author of Chatter )



We all know people who talk with their hands--but do they know what they're saying with them? Our gestures can reveal and contradict us, and express thoughts we may not even know we're thinking.

In Thinking with Your Hands , esteemed cognitive psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow argues that gesture is vital to how we think, learn, and communicate. She shows us, for instance, how the height of our gestures can reveal unconscious bias, or how the shape of a student's gestures can track their mastery of a new concept--even when they're still giving wrong answers. She compels us to rethink everything from how we set child development milestones, to what's admissible in a court of law, to whether Zoom is an adequate substitute for in-person conversation. 

Sweeping and ambitious, Thinking with Your Hands promises to transform the way we think about language and communication.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Imagine a friend who earnestly tells you that he thinks men and women are equally good leaders. But when he talks about men's leadership skills, he places his palm at eye-level, and when he talks about women's leadership skills, he places his palm a bit lower, at mouth-level. His hands have given him away: even if he truly thinks that his views are egalitarian, he holds an implicit belief that is now there for all the word to see. You swear you heard him say something disparaging, even if you don't fully realize why. In Thinking With Your Hands, cognitive psychologist Susan Goldin-Meadow reveals just how essential gestures are to how we think and communicate. Drawing on decades of research, including experiments and studies from throughout her own illustrious career, Goldin-Meadow presents the definitive overview of the most important feature of human communication that you've never thought about. Gesture is a universal behavior common to every culture and language. It's found among Deaf people who use their hands to speak in sign language and blind people who have never seen anyone gesture before. Far from being an affective flourish, Goldin-Meadow argues, gestures are an integral piece of the conversation-even if we don't realize it while we're using them. They give form to ideas that are difficult to phrase in language and help us express ideas that we are grappling with but haven't yet fully grasped. Indeed, understanding gesture compels us to re-think everything from to how we set development milestones for children, to what's admissible in a court of law, to whether FaceTime is a good communication technology. A landmark achievement by a star in the field of cognitive psychology, Thinking With Your Hands reveals the entire landscape of communication that's hidden in our hands and promises to transform the way we think about language for decades to come"-- Provided by publisher.

Introduction: My journey into gesture -- Part I. Thinking with our hands : Why do we use our hands when we talk? ; Our hands reflect our minds ; Our hands can change our minds -- Part II. Speaking with our hands : As long a there are humans, there will be language ; Watching language grow naturally and in the lab -- Part III. Why you should care about hands : Using hands to parent ; Using hands to diagnose and treat ; Using hands to educate ; What if gesture were considered as important as language?

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