Signaling: The Language Peacocks, Gazelles, and Humans All Speak

We’re drawn to the products that signal they’re for people like us, and in turn, will signal our identities.

We make choices that signal what we wish to convey.Signaling is the act of conveying information about ourselves to people in a way that is costly for us and therefore believable. Without the associated cost of sending a signal, we would not be able to trust the information being sent.

Signaling and counter-signaling are hidden methods of communicating with each other. We do it all the time as a way to “prove” we are who and what we claim to be.