Pointing finger
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Pointing with index finger may be used to indicate an item or person.
Around the age of one year, babies begin pointing to communicate relatively complex thoughts, including interest, desire, information, and more. Pointing in human babies can demonstrate the theory of mind, or ability to understand what other people are thinking. This gesture may form one basis for the development of human language. Non-human primates, lacking the ability to formulate ideas about what others are thinking, use pointing in much less complex ways.
Pointing one's index finger at a person is considered rude in certain cultures. A more polite way to indicate another person would be to raise a hand in their direction, as if holding a platter.
See also
- Indexicality
- Index finger
- Index (typography)
- Finger gun
- Language development
- List of gestures
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