This document discusses different types of handshakes and their implications for communicating dominance, control, rapport, and credibility. It describes how a handshake can signal equality or submissiveness. Various techniques are covered for gaining confidence in a handshake, including stepping forward with your left foot to disarm a power player. Handshake styles like the double hander or standing on the left side in photos can make one person appear more dominant. The worst handshakes to avoid are also outlined, such as the wet fish or bone crusher styles.

1. HANDSHAKING
Arijit Goswami
ECE-1, UE 105016

2. Contents
• A peep into the history
• The first move
• How dominance and control are communicated?
• How to create rapport?
• How to disarm a power player
• The hand-on-top technique
• Gaining the left side advantage
• Mismatch of hands
• The double hander
• The Handshakes of control
• The world’s worst 8 handshakes
• Conclusion

3. A peep into the history
• Shaking hands is a relic of our
ancient past. Whenever primitive
tribes met under friendly
conditions, they would hold their
arms out with their palms exposed
to show that no weapons were
being held or concealed. In Roman
times, the practice of carrying a
concealed dagger in the sleeve was
common so for protection the
Romans developed the Lower-Arm-
Grasp as a common greeting.

4. The first move…
• Although it is a generally accepted custom to shake hands
when meeting a person for the first time, there are some
circumstances in which it may not be appropriate for you
to initiate a handshake. Considering that a handshake is a
sign of trust and welcome, it is important to ask yourself
several questions before you initiate the hand shake: Am I
welcome? Is this person happy to meet me or am I forcing
them into it?
• Sales-people are taught that if they initiate a handshake
with a customer on whom they call unannounced or
uninvited, it can produce a negative result.

5. How Dominance and Control Are
Communicated?
The submissive
handshake
Taking control
Communicating
equality

6. How to Create Rapport?
There are two key ingredients for creating rapport in
handshake.
1. First, make sure that yours and the other person's palms are
in the vertical position so that no one is dominant or
submissive.
2. Second, apply the same pressure you receive. This means
that if, on a firmness scale of 1-10, your handshake registers
a 7 but the other person is only a 5, you'll need to back off
20% in strength. If their grip is a 9 and yours is a 7, you'll
need to increase.

7. How to Disarm a Power Player
• This technique involves
first stepping forward
with your left foot as
you reach to shake
hands. This takes a
little practice, as 1. The power player
attempts to control
2. Step forward
stepping forward on on your left foot
the right foot is the
natural position for
90% of people when
shaking with the right 3. Walk across in front
hand. with your right leg
and turn his palm up

8. The Hand-on-Top Technique
• When a power player presents you with a
Palm-Down Thrust, respond with your
hand in the Palm-Up position then put
your left hand over his right to form a
Double-Hander and straighten the
handshake.
• This switches the power from him to you
and is a much simpler way of dealing with
the situation, and is much easier for
women to use, if you feel the power player
is purposefully trying to intimidate.

9. Gaining the Left Side Advantage
When two leaders stand side by side
for media photographs, they try to
appear equal in physical size and
dress code but the one who stands to
the left of the picture is perceived by
viewers to have a dominant edge
over the other. This is because it is
easier to gain the upper hand when
they shake, making the one to the
left of the photograph appear to be
in control.
Gaining the Upper Hand -
JFK using the left-hand
side advantage to put
Richard Nixon into the
weaker-looking position

10. Mismatch of hands
If this ever happens to you, intentionally take the
other person's right hand with your left, place it
correctly into your right hand and say with a
smile 'Let's try that again!‘
This can give you an enormous credibility boost
with the other person, because it shows you care
enough about meeting them to get the handshake
right.

11. The Double-Hander
This handshake increases the amount of
physical contact given by the initiator and gives
control over the receiver by restricting his right
hand. Sometimes called the 'politician‘s
handshake', the initiator of the Double-Hander
tries to give the impression he is trustworthy
and honest, but when it‘s used on a person he's
just met, it can have the reverse effect leaving
the receiver feeling suspicious about the
initiator‘s intentions.
Yasser Arafat plants a Double-
Hander on Tony Blair,
whose tight-lipped expression
shows he's not impressed

12. Handshakes of Control
The Wrist Hold The Elbow Grasp
The Upper-
Arm Grip The Shoulder
Hold

13. The World's Eight Worst
Handshakes
1.The Wet Fish
Credibility Rating: 1/10.
Few greetings are as uninviting as the Wet
Fish, particularly when the hand is cold or
clammy. The soft, placid feel of the Wet Fish
makes it universally unpopular and most
people associate it with weak character.
2.The Vice
Credibility Rating: 4/10.
This quietly persuasive style is a
favourite of men in business and
reveals a desire to dominate and
assume early control of the
relationship or put people in their
place.

14. The World's Eight Worst
Handshakes
3. The Bone-Crusher
Credibility Rating: 0/10.
The Bone-Crusher is the trademark of the
overly aggressive personality who, without
warning, seizes the early advantage and
attempts to demoralise his opponent by
grinding his knuckles to a smooth paste.
4. The Finger-Tip Grab
Credibility Rating: 2/10.
A common occurrence in male—female
greetings, the Finger-Tip Grab is a
handshake that missed the mark and the
user mistakenly grabs the other person's
fingers.

15. The World's Eight Worst
Handshakes
5.The Stiff-Arm Thrust
Credibility Rating: 3/10.
Like the Palm-Down Thrust, the Stiff-
Arm Thrust tends to be
used by aggressive types and its main
purpose is to keep you at
a distance and away from their personal
space.
6. The Socket-Wrencher
Credibility Rating: 3/10.
Pulling the receiver into the initiator's
territory can mean; first, the initiator is
an insecure type who feels safe only
within his own personal space; second,
the initiator is from a culture that has
smaller space needs. Either way, he
wants the encounter to be on his terms.

16. The World's Eight Worst
Handshakes
7.The Pump Handle
Credibility Rating: 4/10.
With strong rural overtones, the
pumper grabs the hand of the
pumpee and commences an
energetic and rhythmic series of
rapid vertical strokes.
8.The Dutch Treat
Credibility Rating: 2/10.
Being somewhat vegetarian in
approach, this handshake has its
origins in the Netherlands, where a
person can be accused of 'Geeft 'n
hand als bosje worteljes' meaning
'Giving a handshake like a bunch of
carrots'.

17. Conclusion
Few people have any idea how they
come across to others in initial
meetings, despite the fact that most of
us are aware that the first few minutes
of that meeting can make or break a
relationship.

18. References
•The Definitive Book of BODY LANGUAGE by Allan & Barbara
Pease

19. Thank you!!