(Credit: Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock) What's in a handshake? If the widespread scrutiny of President Donald Trump's characteristic "yank and grab" is any indication, a lot. If anything, however, the recent spate of armchair psychology surrounding his handshakes says as much about us as it does about him. A handshake, done well, sets a precedent for collaboration and trust. Executed incorrectly, a sloppy handshake is a cringeworthy affair to witness. Why do we invest so much emotional capital into a simple gesture? "The beginning of a social interaction is precisely the time when people are setting for each other how they are going to make themselves available for the other and how they expect the other to be available to them," says Michael Silverstein, a professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago. "It's something that is part of what you would call a quick social ritual, like a one-liner." Armed with this information, we feel a little more comfortable moving forward with the interaction, whether it's a pick-up game or an arms treaty. Are we really masters of handshake interpretation, though? We may think we know someone better after shaking their hand, but when it comes to reading other kinds of hidden intentions — like discerning whether our children are lying — we seem to fall short.
This Trump-Gorsuch handshake is incredibly bizarre. #SCOTUSpic.twitter.com/wx26JSr2tr — Ben Blake (@benjablake) February 1, 2017
