It had the power to drive me out of my conceptions of
existence, out of that shelter each of us makes for himself to creep under in
moments of danger, as a tortoise withdraws within its shell. --Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim, 1899; see below, Origin)
Gesture. 1. To lift, raise, or
flex-forward one or both shoulders in response a. to another
person's statement, question, or physical presence; or b. to
one's own inner thoughts, feelings, and moods. 2. One of
several constituents of the larger shoulder-shrug
display.
Usage I: The shoulder-shrug is a universal sign of resignation,
uncertainty, and submissiveness. Shrug cues may modify, counteract, or
contradict verbal remarks. With the statement, "Yes, I'm sure," e.g., a lifted
shoulder suggests, "I'm not so sure." A shrug reveals misleading, ambiguous, or
uncertain areas in dialogue and oral testimony, and thus may provide a
probing point, i.e., an opportunity to examine an
unverbalized belief or opinion.
Usage II: The shrug
gesture bears an interesting relationship to the English word, just, as
in, "I don't know why I took the money--I just took it." In this sense, "just"
conveys a feeling of powerlessness and uncertainty as to motive. The word also
connotes "merely," as in "Just a scratch" (Soukhanov 1992:979). These diminutive
aspects of the word "just" resonate with the cringing, crouched aspect of the
shoulder-shrug cue (see below, Origin).
A personal reflection. The shrug is one of my favorite gestures. When I'd ask my boss for more time on a work assignment, the slightest shrug meant my wish would be granted--despite employer words to the contrary. Shoulder-shrugs provided "wiggle room" to plead my case.
Anatomy. The
trapezius and levator scapulae muscles lift the shoulder
blades (scapulas). Trapezius (assisted by pectoralis major,
p. minor, and serratus anterior) medially rotates (i.e.,
ventrally flexes) the shoulders, as well. "The Trapezius of terrestrial vertebrates seems to be derived from a muscle sheet in fish that runs down from the back of the head to the top of the gill-arch bones. In a fish, this muscle lifts the whole set of gills up dorsally when it contracts" (Source: Cartmill, Matt, Hylander, William L., and James Shafland (1987). Human Structure (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 224). Further, "When the head and forelimb girdle parted company in earl amphibians, the Trapezius sheet lost its connection with the gill-arch bones; but it remained stretched between the skull and scapula, acting to pull the scapula dorsally and cranially when it contracted. It still does this in our own bodies" (Source: Cartmill, Matt, Hylander, William L., and James Shafland (1987). Human Structure (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, p. 224).
Football. On January 25, 1998, in an NBC Sports interview conducted after his team had won Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, Denver Broncos quarterback, John Elway, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I can't believe it."
Media. Actor James Dean's defensive shrug set
his style apart from the stiffer performances of male leads of his time. The
contrast between Dean's nonverbal diffidence and Rock Hudson's
square-shouldered dominance in the 1956 movie Giant, e.g., is
so dramatic it seemed shoulders had been written into the script. But they had
not, for Dean's shrug, according to director Elia Kazan, was "natural." Dean
cringed all the time. As American Icon author, David Dalton,
wrote, "Jimmy's body is a universe where gravitational pull stems from
instability; fascination from asymmetrical shifts and awkward physical
contortions formed under internal stress"
(1984:53).
Observations. 1. Responding to his
father's question ("Do you have your lunch money?"), a son's left shoulder
lifts slightly as he answers, "Yes." The father replies, "Better make
sure." 2. Bowing
forward, a finance director peeks around his boss's doorway and lifts his
shoulders as he asks, "May I talk to you, sir?" 3. While
conversing in a hotel bar, a man and woman flex, pitch, and
roll their shoulders flirtatiously over cocktails (see LOVE SIGNALS
III).
Origin. The shrug gesture originates from an
ancient, protective crouch pattern innervated by paleocircuits designed for flexion
withdrawal. The shoulder-shrug complex was originally
identified by Charles Darwin in 1872. The earliest mention of a shrug cue may come from observations of the Greek orator, Demosthenes (384-322 BC): "He removed the distortion of features which accompanied his utterance by watching the movements of his countenance in a mirror; and a naked sword was suspended over his left shoulder while he was declaiming in private, to prevent its rising above the level of the right [in what likely was a sign of uncertainty or diffidence]" (Peck 1898).
Outer space. On July 11,
1996, while orbiting in the Russian spacecraft, Mir, U.S. astronaut Shannon
Lucid shrugged her shoulders, tilted her head, and gestured
with her palm up as she answered questions about her six-week delay in
returning to Earth. "You know," she told NBC's Today Show, "that's
life."
Primatology. Shoulder-shrugging has been seen in South African adult
and young adult baboons as a sign of fear and uncertainty, and as a response
subsequent to the startle reaction (Hall and DeVore 1972). In monkeys, Graziano (2010) found that electrical stimulation of the brain's polysensory area (in the precentral gyrus) elicits defensive shoulder shrugging, a movement that occurs naturally in response "to tactile stimuli on the face and to visual stimuli looming toward the tactile receptive fields" ([Graziano, Michael S. A. (2010). "Ethologically Relevant Movements Mapped on the Motor Cortex." In Platt, Michael L. and Asif A. Ghazanfar (eds.), Primate Neuroethology (New York: Oxford University Press), pp. 454-70] p. 462).
U.S.
politics. On September 9, 1998, in Orlando, Florida, President Bill Clinton
shrugged his shoulders and gazed-down at a public apology as he said, "I've done
my best to be your friend. But I also let you down, and I let my family down,
and I let this country down." (Washington Post, September 10,
1998).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "When a man wishes to show that he cannot do something, or prevent something being done, he often raises with a quick movement both shoulders" (Darwin 1872:264). 2. Pulling in the shoulders is a response to spatial invasion (Sommer 1969). 3. The shrug is listed in two checklists of universal nonverbal signs: a. as "A fairly sudden raising of both shoulders" (Brannigan and Humphries 1972:60), and b. "Raising both shoulders" (Grant 1969:533). 4. Shrugging the shoulders is a submissive sign in children (McGrew 1972).
Neuro-notes I. As a branchiomeric muscle, upper trapezius is emotionally responsive (i.e., "gut reactive"; see PHARYNGEAL ARCH), and often hard to control by conscious means. Upper trapezius is innervated by the accessory nerve (cranial XI), a special visceral nerve which also feeds into the voice box (or larynx). Thus, shoulder-shrugs and vocal whines may be given at the same time.
Neuro-notes II. Mirror neurons: I am unaware of studies that have found links between mirror neurons and shoulder movements, but would agree with David Freedberg's provocative comment: "In principle, however," he writes, "it should be possible to do so [i.e., map the human brain's mirror-neuron areas which decode and respond emotionally to particular gestures], even in the case of shoulder movements such as this one [pictured in Jean-Michel Basquia's untitled oilslick on paper (1982), depicting an individual's bodily response to fear] (source: Freedberg, David (2009). "Movement, Embodiment, Emotion," in: Dufrenne, T., and A. Taylor (eds.), Cannibalismes Disciplinaires, Quand l'Histoire de l'Art et l'Anthropologie se Rencontrent (Paris: INHA/Musee du Quai Branly), pp. 37-61.).
See also ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP, HEAD-TILT-SIDE, PALM-UP,
SHOULDER WEAR,
TONE OF
VOICE.
KINDA SORTA
Vocal shrug. In English speakers, the verbal practice of inserting a "kind of" or "sort of" phrase into a sentence to hedge its accuracy, truth or veracity. Nonverbally, abbreviated versions of the phrases used as "throw away" comments may be likened to shoulder-shrugs of uncertainty.
Usage. Kinda-sorta phrases are used in political talk shows to suggest that pundits' vocal comments may not be entirely true as stated, giving them an opportunity to recant, restate or rephrase. The verbal remarks may align with nonverbal hedge cues derived from the shoulder-shrug display.
Neuro-notes. That we live in a perennially uncertain world is reflected by the brain's innate ability to function, verbally as well as nonverbally, despite prevailing cognitive doubts and gaps in certitude.
See also VERBAL PAUSE.
YouTube Video: Watch this 20 second demo of shrugging with a real shoulder-shrug at the end.
YouTube Video: Celebrity Shoulder-shrugs
Copyright 1998 - 2020 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
Photo of elevated right shoulder (note head-tilt toward the raised shoulder, due to contraction of right aspect of upper trapezius muscle; picture credit: unknown)