You meet someone, extend your right hand, and clasp theirs in a brief grip. This happens thousands of times in your life—job interviews, introductions, deals closed, acquaintances encountered. The handshake is so automatic that you probably don't think about it. You just do it because that's what you do.
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted this instinct. Suddenly, handshakes were dangerous, vectors for disease transmission. People fumbled with elbow bumps, fist bumps, awkward waves. The absence of handshakes felt strange, leaving a gap in social interaction that alternatives couldn't quite fill.
Why did this particular gesture—clasping right hands and moving them up and down—become so universal and so hard to replace?
The Problem This Was Meant to Solve
When two strangers meet, they face a fundamental problem: are you a threat? Throughout human evolution, encounters with unknown people carried real danger. The person approaching could be a friend or an enemy, a trader or a raider. You needed some way to signal peaceful intentions.
The handshake likely evolved as a demonstration of non-threat. By extending your right hand—your weapon hand—you showed that you weren't holding a weapon. By clasping hands, you prevented the other person from quickly drawing one. The gesture simultaneously declared your peaceful intentions and constrained theirs.
Beyond signaling non-threat, physical contact creates connection. Touch releases oxytocin, a hormone associated with bonding and trust. Even brief, formal touch like a handshake creates more positive feelings than no touch at all. The handshake serves not just practical but psychological purposes.
There's also the ritual function. Societies need ways to mark transitions: greetings, agreements, farewells. The handshake provides a clear gesture that both parties recognize and execute. This shared ritual creates common ground, a moment of coordination that establishes the social relationship to follow.
How It Actually Came to Exist
Hand-clasping as a gesture of peace appears across many ancient cultures. Archaeological evidence shows handshakes in Assyrian reliefs from the 9th century BCE, depicting agreements between kings. Ancient Greek vases from the 5th century BCE show handshaking. The gesture appears independently in cultures worldwide, suggesting it addresses something fundamental about human interaction.
The Western tradition of handshaking may have intensified among the Quakers in the 17th century. Rejecting the hierarchical gestures of their era—bowing, hat-doffing, kneeling—Quakers adopted the handshake as an egalitarian greeting. Everyone shakes hands the same way, regardless of rank. This democratic aspect helped spread the practice through societies that valued equality.
By the 19th century, handshaking had become standard in American and British business and social contexts. Etiquette guides codified proper handshaking technique. The firmness of one's grip became a marker of character. The handshake evolved from a gesture of peace to a test of personality.
The practice spread globally through Western commercial and colonial influence. As Western business practices became global standards, so did the handshake. Today, it's recognized (if not universally practiced) essentially everywhere. Other greeting customs persist—bowing in Japan, the wai in Thailand—but the handshake is understood worldwide.
Why It Still Exists Today
Despite its ancient origins, the handshake remains central to modern interaction because the functions it serves haven't been replaced. We still need ways to greet strangers, seal agreements, and create physical connection. Alternative gestures exist but don't quite match the handshake's combination of formality, equality, and physical touch.
In professional contexts, the handshake marks important moments. Job interviews typically begin and end with handshakes. Business deals are "sealed with a handshake." The gesture adds weight and formality to significant interactions. It's become shorthand for agreement and commitment.
The information conveyed by a handshake is harder to replicate than you might think. Grip strength, palm moisture, warmth, duration—all communicate information about the other person, consciously or not. Studies have shown that handshakes influence hiring decisions and first impressions. This information exchange happens too quickly and subtly for conscious analysis.
There's also cultural momentum. The handshake has been the standard greeting for so long that departing from it feels awkward. If you don't shake hands when meeting someone in a professional Western context, you need a reason. The default persists because it's easier to follow convention than to explain why you're not.
What People Misunderstand About It
The biggest misconception is that the handshake is purely arbitrary—just a random gesture that happened to catch on. The handshake likely evolved because it solved real problems: demonstrating peaceful intent, enabling physical bonding, marking social transitions. Its universality reflects shared human needs rather than mere historical accident.
Many people overvalue handshake firmness. While a weak handshake may create negative impressions, an excessively strong grip is equally problematic. The "bone-crusher" handshake signals insecurity or aggression rather than confidence. The ideal is matched pressure—neither dominating nor submitting, but connecting as equals.
Another misconception is that the handshake is disappearing. The pandemic certainly disrupted it, and hygiene awareness has increased. But handshaking has weathered previous disease concerns and recovered. In contexts where physical presence matters—important meetings, ceremonies, personal introductions—the handshake retains its value precisely because alternatives feel inadequate.
Perhaps most importantly, people underestimate how much information handshakes convey. Research shows that people form impressions from handshakes that correlate with personality assessments made through longer interaction. The handshake is a compressed social sample—a few seconds that reveal something true about the person. This information density is why we keep doing it despite the existence of simpler, more hygienic alternatives.