Some time ago on this board, someone mentioned that in very early times, smiling was a gesture of submission. Does anyone know the history of this? What about other gestures like nodding or shaking the head? Are there any extant cultures which don’t assign the same meanings to these as we do?
Nodding is assumed to be a minimised form of bowing, in other words acquiescence or submission.
The most beleivable theory about the origin of head shaking is from children refusing to be fed by their mothers. Young children toss their head from side to side to avoid unpleasant food, hence head shaking became recognised as a from of disagreement.
This site gives example of where the gestures aren’t employed.
http://www.kufs.ac.jp/Classes/TohgeT/listening/HumAnimal.htm
I don’t know if it’s true, but there’s that scene in “The Gods Must Be Crazy” where the scientist was trying to convince the female journalist that the tribesman was actually agreeing with him when he shook his head. Apparently that tribe shook there heads to mean yes.
Nod for yes and shake for no are common, but not universal. Cecil looked into this a while back and gives examples of some cultures that use different gestures for yes and no.
Why do we nod our heads for “yes” and shake them for “no”?
Smiling is universal. Babies are able to smile at about 2 months (it is called a social smile) regardless of whether they have seen someone else smile. So the gesture appears to be innate.
Smiling is also seen among chimpanzees. Among chimps it is a sign of submission. In early human cultures this meaning may have been retained, but I think smiling gained its modern meaning sometime before any records were kept.