The concept that concerns us has two uses in our language, on the one hand it refers to everything that is proper or associated with the gesture, and on the other it refers to the action of making gestures.
Own or associated with gestures; action of making gestures that communicate moods, ideas, emphasize ...
Meanwhile, a gesture is a form of non-verbal communication very popular among human beings, which usually communicates a state of mind, an idea or the emphasis of something, among others, and that will be executed with some part of the body, producing a movement in the joints and muscles of the arms, head and hands.
But also many times gestures are transmitted with the whole body, with a body posture, which includes gestures of the whole body.
That is to say, always, the gesture, from whichever side it comes, will imply the manifestation, expression of something that one wants to make known to another or others.
They communicate attitudes and states
Much of the communication between human beings comes from the non-verbal.
With words we transmit content, and obviously there is a strong influence of reason, while gestures communicate attitudes and states especially.
In addition, most of the gestures are made unconsciously, that is, most of what we do we do not think about before, but they come out directly and naturally.
Normally it is easy to read gestures by keenly observing someone's body language and gestures, and not even talking if we know him in private, by looking at them we will know if he is happy, angry, if he likes or dislikes something, among others.
For example, when someone imposes a gesture on us, it is easy for us to discover that it is not genuine. One of the most common is when someone simulates a smile that is not really felt.
Through gestures we can express a variety of thoughts and feelings, such as contempt, love, affection, dislike, hatred, among many others. In other words, gestures can be transmitters of pleasant and positive issues, as well as negative ones.
Almost all people when we speak, we accompany the words we express with gestures, meanwhile, there are some cultures and ethnic groups that use more gestures than others.
With this we mean and make it clear that the gesture and the word can be accompanied and both the one and the other add to the expression in a communication.
But sometimes just a gesture is enough to express what you think, without having to say a single word.
Also, another issue linked to gestures is acceptance, that is, in some parts of the world a gesture can be very frowned upon, while in other places it can be widely accepted.
On the other hand we must realize that there are gestures that are socially agreed and accepted and beyond the various cultures, uses, customs, and languages, they are used everywhere, for example, moving the head to both sides means no and moving it from top down implies a yes, to name a few of the most popular gestures.
Gesture classes
Now, the most common classification of gestures differentiates them in: emblematic gestures (they are signals that are emitted intentionally and that everyone knows well what they want to say, for example, the raised thumb indicates that everything is fine, the vertical index finger on the lips, indicates the need to be silent), illustrative gestures (They accompany verbal communication, either to accentuate or emphasize what is being said with words; they are usually very useful in public speeches, for example, the presidential candidate who guarantees that with his proposal they will come out ahead and while saying it he raises both arms), regulatory gestures (They serve to regularize or synchronize communication, for example, shaking hands when starting a conversation with someone), gestures that express states of emotion (Through these people express the emotional state they have at the moment, for example, a broad smile is a clear indicator of a moment of joy) and adaptation gestures (They are the ones we use to manage emotions that we do not want to expose or when we want to calm down in a situation that causes stress; we are nervous and then we bite our nails or we take a pen and carry it with our fingers from one side to the other).
