Haptic communication is a branch of nonverbal communication that refers to the ways in which people and animals communicate, and interact via the sense of touch. Touch or Haptics , from the ancient greek word haptikos is extremely important for communication; it is vital for survival [1] . The sense of touch allows one to experience different sensations such as: pleasure, pain, heat, or cold. One of the most significant aspects of touch is the ability to convey and enhance physical intimacy. The sense of touch is the fundamental component of haptic communication for interpersonal relationships.Touch can be categorized in many terms such as positive, playful, control, ritualistic, task-related or unintentional. It can be both sexual ( kissing is one example that some perceived as sexual), and platonic (such as hugging or a Handshake).
Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the fetus [2]. The development of an infant's haptic senses and how it relates to the development of the other senses such as vision has been the target of much research. Human babies have been observed to have enormous difficulty surviving if they do not possess a sense of touch, even if they retain sight and hearing [3]. Infants who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, tend to fare much better. [4]
Similarly to infants, in chimpanzees the sense of touch is highly developed. As newborns they see and hear poorly but cling strongly to their mothers. Harry Harlow conducted a controversial study involving rhesus monkeys and observed that monkeys reared with a "terry cloth mother", a wire feeding apparatus wrapped in softer terry cloth which provided a level of tactile stimulation and comfort, were considerably more emotionally stable as adults than those with a mere wire mother. For his experiment, he presented the infants with a clothed surrogate mother and a wire surrogate mother which held a bottle with food. It turns out that the rhesus monkeys spent most of their time with the terry cloth mother, over the wire surrogate with a bottle of food, which indicates that they preferred touch , warmth, and comfort over sustenance [5].
High contact culture
In a high contact culture, many things are not verbally stated but are express through physical touch. For instance, Cheek kissing is very common method of greeting in the Latin Americas, but among European individuals it is an uncommon form of greeting. Different cultures have different display rules , the degree with which emotions are expressed. Cultural display rules also affect the degree to which individuals share their personal space, gaze and physical contact during interactions. In a High contact culture, such as South America, Latin America, Southern Europe, Africa, Russia, Middle East and others , people tends to share more physical contact. High contact cultures communicate through long gazes, long hugs,and share a decrease in proxemics and etc [6].
Low contact culture
Low contact cultures such as: The United States, Canada, Northern Europe, Australia & New Zealand and Asia prefers infrequent touching, larger physical distance, indirect body orientations (during interaction) along with little share gazes. [6] In the Thai culture, kissing a friend on the cheek is less common than in the Latin Americas. Remland and Jones (1995) studied groups of people communicating and found that in England (8%), France (5%) and the Netherlands (4%), touching was rare compared to the Italian (14%) and Greek (12.5%) sample. [7]
Change euphemism to metaphor > To 'touch oneself' is a euphemism for masturbation. To 'touch oneself' is a metaphor for masturbation.(Delete)
- ^ Field, Tiffany. “The Importance of Touch.” Karger Gazette, misc.karger.com/gazette/67/Field/art_4.htm. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Pediatrix Medical Group, editor. “How Babies' Sense Develop.” 2015, doi:10.4324/9781315665566. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Schanberg, S M, and T M Field. “Sensory Deprivation Stress and Supplemental Stimulation in the Rat Pup and Preterm Human Neonate.” Child Development., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 1987, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3691193?dopt=Abstract. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Leonard, Crystal. “The Sense of Touch and How It Affects Development.” The Sense of Touch and How It Affects Development, 14 May 2009, serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/crystal-leonard/sense-touch-and-how-it-affects-development. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Michael Baker (2010-12-16), Harlow's Studies on Dependency in Monkeys, retrieved 2017-04-25
- ^ a b McCornack, Steven (2017). Choices and Connections, An Introduction to Communication. Boston: Bedford. pp. 141–150. ISBN 978-1-319-04352-0.
- ^ Remland, M, Jones, T, & Brinkman, H 1995, 'Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age', Journal Of Social Psychology, 135, 3, pp. 281-297
Haptic communication is a branch of nonverbal communication that refers to the ways in which people and animals communicate, and interact via the sense of touch. Touch or Haptics , from the ancient greek word haptikos is extremely important for communication; it is vital for survival [1] . The sense of touch allows one to experience different sensations such as: pleasure, pain, heat, or cold. One of the most significant aspects of touch is the ability to convey and enhance physical intimacy. The sense of touch is the fundamental component of haptic communication for interpersonal relationships.Touch can be categorized in many terms such as positive, playful, control, ritualistic, task-related or unintentional. It can be both sexual ( kissing is one example that some perceived as sexual), and platonic (such as hugging or a Handshake).
Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the fetus [2]. The development of an infant's haptic senses and how it relates to the development of the other senses such as vision has been the target of much research. Human babies have been observed to have enormous difficulty surviving if they do not possess a sense of touch, even if they retain sight and hearing [3]. Infants who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, tend to fare much better. [4]
Similarly to infants, in chimpanzees the sense of touch is highly developed. As newborns they see and hear poorly but cling strongly to their mothers. Harry Harlow conducted a controversial study involving rhesus monkeys and observed that monkeys reared with a "terry cloth mother", a wire feeding apparatus wrapped in softer terry cloth which provided a level of tactile stimulation and comfort, were considerably more emotionally stable as adults than those with a mere wire mother. For his experiment, he presented the infants with a clothed surrogate mother and a wire surrogate mother which held a bottle with food. It turns out that the rhesus monkeys spent most of their time with the terry cloth mother, over the wire surrogate with a bottle of food, which indicates that they preferred touch , warmth, and comfort over sustenance [5].
High contact culture
In a high contact culture, many things are not verbally stated but are express through physical touch. For instance, Cheek kissing is very common method of greeting in the Latin Americas, but among European individuals it is an uncommon form of greeting. Different cultures have different display rules , the degree with which emotions are expressed. Cultural display rules also affect the degree to which individuals share their personal space, gaze and physical contact during interactions. In a High contact culture, such as South America, Latin America, Southern Europe, Africa, Russia, Middle East and others , people tends to share more physical contact. High contact cultures communicate through long gazes, long hugs,and share a decrease in proxemics and etc [6].
Low contact culture
Low contact cultures such as: The United States, Canada, Northern Europe, Australia & New Zealand and Asia prefers infrequent touching, larger physical distance, indirect body orientations (during interaction) along with little share gazes. [6] In the Thai culture, kissing a friend on the cheek is less common than in the Latin Americas. Remland and Jones (1995) studied groups of people communicating and found that in England (8%), France (5%) and the Netherlands (4%), touching was rare compared to the Italian (14%) and Greek (12.5%) sample. [7]
Change euphemism to metaphor > To 'touch oneself' is a euphemism for masturbation. To 'touch oneself' is a metaphor for masturbation.(Delete)
- ^ Field, Tiffany. “The Importance of Touch.” Karger Gazette, misc.karger.com/gazette/67/Field/art_4.htm. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Pediatrix Medical Group, editor. “How Babies' Sense Develop.” 2015, doi:10.4324/9781315665566. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Schanberg, S M, and T M Field. “Sensory Deprivation Stress and Supplemental Stimulation in the Rat Pup and Preterm Human Neonate.” Child Development., U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 1987, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3691193?dopt=Abstract. Accessed 25 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Leonard, Crystal. “The Sense of Touch and How It Affects Development.” The Sense of Touch and How It Affects Development, 14 May 2009, serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/crystal-leonard/sense-touch-and-how-it-affects-development. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.
- ^ Michael Baker (2010-12-16), Harlow's Studies on Dependency in Monkeys, retrieved 2017-04-25
- ^ a b McCornack, Steven (2017). Choices and Connections, An Introduction to Communication. Boston: Bedford. pp. 141–150. ISBN 978-1-319-04352-0.
- ^ Remland, M, Jones, T, & Brinkman, H 1995, 'Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age', Journal Of Social Psychology, 135, 3, pp. 281-297