The Gesturing Caller

Sometimes people gesture even though they are talking to someone on the phone. This often observed fact has been discussed by many people investigating the nature of gesture. A habitual serial caller? (source) Now, Mark Liberman wrote his views on the phenomenon in the LanguageLog. In short he explains it as a communicative habit. A habit that grew out of complex "theory of mind" reasoning, like exemplified in this hilarious comic. How it grew he does not say exactly, other than that gesture is apparently one of a 'lot of things that seem cleverly calculated to influence the knowledge and beliefs of others'. Gesture as a cherished part of the arsenal of communication means we carry around. Like a pocketknife we carry, perhaps? Just because the situation does not call for a pocketknife, it still feels good to know it is there? Personally I think habits are very poweful, but do not offer the full explanation here. People are on the phone so much that I expect them to grow phone habits. And why would they include gestures if they are not accomplishing anything? I think most gesture researchers, especially psycholinguists, consider speaking and gesturing to be very closely linked (in cognitive processes). Therefore gesturing on the phone may be either a side effect of talking or a way to help you formulate and express your message. Of course, your communicative behaviour will be channelled into habits, but the link is always there. The question is why gesturing on the phone is such a hard habit to break. And under which conditions does it occur most? And if my phone recognizes gestures, will that be a problem?

Tags: gesture, phone, speech, psychology, cognition, production, habit, ToM