When I shake someone's hand my brain gets connected to my hand, which in turn gets connected to that person's hand, which connects to that person's brain. (my brain to his).

 

Oxytocin and noradrenaline get secreted and the person feels good.

 

How did the handshake (as we know it today) originate ?

 

The handshake is thought by some to have originated as a gesture of peace by demonstrating that the hand holds no weapon.^[6][7][8]

 

 

It has been discovered as a part of a research in the Weizmann Institute, that human handshakes serve as a mean of transferring social chemical signals between the shakers. It appears that there is a tendency to bring the shaken hands to the vicinity of the nose and smell them. They may serve an evolutionary need to learn about the person whose hand was shaken, replacing a more overt sniffing behavior, as is common among animals and in certain human cultures (un Tuvalu, Greenland or rural Mongolia, where a quick sniff is part of the traditional greeting ritual). ^[16]

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handshake

Kinda odd that oxytocin is released in social interaction as well as labour and lactation.

Edited January 21, 20169 yr by Xalatan

Evolution is big on reuse.

Edited January 21, 20169 yr by Endy0816

Phew... For a moment there, I thought this had something to do with introducing yourself to the man in the next urinal.

Evolution is big on reuse.

 

Did this gesture have simian antecedents ?

Yes.