The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
appeasement. Consequently, shrugs that are performed
with raised eyebrows are much more submissive than
those produced without this addition.
• MESSAGES. The message of the shrug is one of helplessness.
Someone who shrugs is saying, 'I can't do anything
about it', 'I don't know' or 'I'm not responsible'. These
messages of impotence are obviously much closer to
submission than they are to dominance.
The shrug is the gestural cop-out par excellence. It's hardly
surprising, therefore, that it's so popular in close-knit
communities where people are constantly making
demands on each other for favours or information, and
where they need to find a way of refusing these demands
without causing offence. The shrug can be performed in
several ways, depending on how the various components
of raised shoulders, raised arms, exposed palms, raised
eyebrows and canted head are combined. The way people
combine these components has a lot to do with their
cultural background. In his famous study of Italians and
Jews in New York City, David Efron noted that while
Italians tended to gesticulate with a wide circumference of
movement, Eastern European Jews have a habit of keeping
their elbows tucked in. 2 These differences are also discernible
in the way they shrug; Italians tend to shrug with
raised shoulders as well as raised arms, whereas Eastern
European Jews tend to raise their shoulders while keeping
their shoulders tucked in. The Italian shrug is much more
expansive, relying on the self-protection provided by the
raised shoulders. The Eastern European Jewish shrug is
doubly defensive because it relies on the protection
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