Selfishness
If a man gestures toward himself, he indicates limited conceptions, or selfishness, with a tendency to materialize everything. Movements in any direction away from the trunk of the body and on its level denote assertiveness, sincerity, creative ability, or willingness to cooperate in thought.
Affirmation And Denial
Vertical movements suggest the life of ideas, and symbolize affirmation. Horizontal gestures accompany the denial of ideas and the death of interest. The diagonal upward curve indicates idealism. A similar curve downward is a sign that an idea presented to the imagination is concretely realized.
The person who gestures directly in front of himself proves he is willing to meet you face to face regarding the idea presented. But when a man gestures slightly to one side or the other, he is not dodging. His movement denotes only that he is thinking seriously. However, if you present ideas to a man who gestures far to the right or left, you may feel certain that he is not giving his thoughts in harmony with yours, but probably is trying to get your ideas out of his mind.
Study Tones
While we have emphasized that "muscular indications" are of principal importance in making a certain size-up, the tones and words of the prospect should not be altogether neglected. Often a man will unintentionally reveal in his tones the very things he means his words to conceal. You would not depend on the words of a person if they were contradicted by his acts and tones.
Mental, emotive, and power characteristics are signified by various tone pitches. The degree of a man's determination and his persistence in thought are denoted by the number of tone units he habitually employs when speaking. The genuineness of a statement is suggested or disproved by the tone intervals in the statement. "Yes" spoken in one unit without inflection means unqualified assent. "Y-es" in two tones may mean doubtful assent, or false agreement, or even a contradiction. The middle-of-the-mouth tone proves a well balanced mind, in contrast with the unreliable mind that is denoted by the lip tone, and the secretive mind which is suggested by the tone that comes from far back in the mouth.
In a five minute conversation an alert observer who has studied a few of the elemental principles of tone analysis can size up a great many of the most pronounced characteristics of a prospect.