Information about Haptics

Haptics is the study of touching behavior. Touch is an extremely important sense for humans; as well as providing information about surfaces and textures it is a component of nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, and vital in conveying physical intimacy. It can be both sexual (such as kissing or oral sex) and platonic (such as hugging or tickling).

striking, pushing, pulling, pinching, kicking, strangling and hand-to-hand fighting are forms of touch in the context of physical abuse. In a sentence like "I never touched him/her" or "Don't you dare to touch him/her" the term touch may be meant as euphemism for either physical abuse or sexual touching. To 'touch oneself' is a euphemism for masturbation.

The word touch has many other metaphorical uses. One can be emotionally touched, referring to an action or object that evokes a sad or joyful feeling. To say "I was touched by your letter" implies the reader felt joy or sadness when reading it.

Touch is the earliest sense to develop in the fetus, and the development of infants' haptic senses, and how that 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. Babies who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, fare much better. Touch can be thought a basic sense in that most life forms have a response to being touched, while only a subset have sight and hearing.

In chimpanzees the sense of touch is highly developed. As newborns they see and hear poorly but they grasp 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.

Touching is treated differently from one country to another. Acceptable touch varies by cultural group. In the Thai culture#, touching someone's head may be thought rude. 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 their Italian (14%) and Greek (12.5%) sample.

Stoeltje (2003) wrote about how American’s are ‘losing touch’ with this important communication skill. During a study conduced by University of Miami School of Medicine, Touch Research Institutes, American kids were said to be more aggressive than their French counterparts while playing at a playground. It was noted that French women touched their children more often than the American parents.

Haptic perception

Gibson (1966) defines the haptic system as "The sensibility of the individual to the world adjacent to his body by use of his body". The haptic perceptual system is unusual in that it can include the sensory receptors from the whole body and is closely linked to the movement of the body so can have a direct effect on the world being perceived. The concept of haptic perception is closely allied to the concept of active touch that realizes that more information is gathered when a motor plan (movement) is associated with the sensory system, and that of extended physiological proprioception a realization that when using a tool such as a stick, the perception is transparently transferred to the end of the tool.

It has been found (Robles-De-La-Torre & Hayward, 2001) that haptic perception relies on the forces experienced during touch. This research allows the creation of "virtual", illusory haptic shapes with different perceived qualities (see "The Cutting edge of haptics").

The abilities of the haptic sense, and of somatic sense in general, were traditionally underrated. In spite of expectations, loss of the sense of touch is a catastrophic deficit. It makes it almost impossible to walk or perform other skilled actions such as holding objects or using tools (Robles-De-La-Torre 2006), highlighting the critical and subtle abilities of touch and somatic senses in general and the potential of haptic technology.

Haptic categories

Heslin (1974) outlines the five haptic categories:
1. Functional/professional
2. Social/polite
3. Friendship/warmth
4. Love/intimacy
5. Sexual/arousal


The intent of a touch is not always exclusive and touching can evolve to each one of Heslin’s categories.

Functional/professional

Managers should know the effectiveness of using touch while communicating to subordinates, but need to be cautious and understand how touch can be misunderstood. A hand on the shoulder for one person may mean a supportive gesture, while it could mean a sexual advance to another person. Working with others and using touch to communicate, a manager needs to be aware of each person’s touch tolerance.

Henley’s (1977) research found that a person in power is more likely to touch a subordinate, but the subordinate is not free to touch in kind. Touch is a powerful nonverbal communication tool and this different standard between a superior and subordinate can lead to confusion whether the touch is motivated by dominance or intimacy according to Borisoff and Victor (1989).

The initial connection to another person in a professional setting usually starts off with a touch, specifically a handshake. Your handshake can speak volumes about you and your personality. Chiarella (2006) wrote an article for Esquire magazine explaining to the predominately male readership how handshakes differ from person to person and how they send nonverbal messages. He mentioned that holding the grip longer than two seconds will result in a stop in the verbal conversation, thus the nonverbal will override the verbal communication.

Walton (1989) stated in his book that touching is the ultimate expression of closeness or confidence between two people, but not seen often in business or formal relationships. Touching stress how special the message is that is being sent by the initiator. “If a word of praise is accompanied by a touch on the shoulder, that’s the gold star on the ribbon,” wrote Walton.

Social/polite

Moving from one haptic category to another can become blurred by culture. Examine the many areas in the United States where a touch on the forearm is accepted as socially correct and polite. In the Midwest, this is not always an acceptable behavior.

Jones (1985) explained communication with touch as the most intimate and involving form which helps us to keep good relationships with others. His study with Yarbrough covered touch sequences and individual touches.

Touch sequences fall into two different types, repetitive and strategic. Repetitive is when one person touches and the other person reciprocates. The majority of these touches are considered positive. Strategic touching is a series of touching usually with an ulterior or hidden motive thus making them seem to be using touch as a game to get someone to do something for you.

More common than the sequential touches are the individual or single touches. They must be read by using the total context of what was said, the nature of the relationship and what kind of social setting was involved when the person was touched.

Yarbrough designed a blueprint for how to touch. She designated the different body areas as to whether they are ‘touchable’ or not. Non-vulnerable body parts (NVBP) are the hand, arm, shoulder and upper back, and vulnerable body parts (VBP) are all other body regions.

Civil inattention is defined as the polite way to manage interaction with strangers by not engaging in any interpersonal communication or needing to respond to a stranger’s touch. Goffman (1963) uses an elevator study to explain this phenomenon. You do not look, talk or touch to the person next to you. It may be so crowded that you ‘touch’ another person, but you maintain an expressionless demeanor so not to affect those around you.

Friendship/warmth

It is more acceptable for women to touch than men in social or friendship settings, possibly because of the innate nature of the person touching have dominance over who they are touching. Whitcher and Fisher (1979) conducted a study to see whether therapeutic touch to reduce anxiety differed between the sexes. A nurse was told to touch patients for one minute while the patients looked at a pamphlet during a routine preoperative procedure. Females reacted positively to the touch, males did not. It was surmised that males equated the touch to being treated as inferior or dependent.

Touching among family members has been found to affect the behavior of those involved. Various factors are at work within a family setting. As a child grows older, the amount of touching by the parent decreases.

Boys distance themselves from their parents at an earlier age than girls. There is more touching with the same sex parent than with cross-sex parents.

A study of nonverbal communication on how men ‘converse’ in bars shows that women like men to touch, but it’s their touching of other men that intrigues them. The men who are touching others are perceived as having a higher status and social power than those that aren’t touching others.

The study found that women were more receptive to men who demanded the most social space, and that when a women comes into a bar, men will move their drinks far apart to signal to women that they have space in their ‘domain’ for them.

Love/intimacy

The primary nonverbal behavior that has the biggest effect on interpersonal relationships is touch.

The amount of touching increases as a relationship moves from impersonal to personal

Three areas of public touch between couples have been studied. The amount of touch between a man and a woman in the initial stages of a romantic relationship, how much touching goes on between the couple and the extent of the touching with the amount of touch men and women displayed and who initiated the touch and when they initiated it.

Public touch can serve as a ‘tie sign’ that shows others that your partner is “taken” (Morris, 1977). When a couple is holding hands, putting their arms around each other, this is a ‘tie sign’ showing others that you are together. The use of ‘tie signs’ are used more often by couples in the dating and courtship stages than between their married counterparts according to Burgoon, Buller, and Woodall (l996).

Studies have also shown a difference between the sexes on who touches when. In the initial stages of a relationship, men needed to show social control thus following socially prescribed gender roles. Patterson (1988) indicated that men fulfilling this social role would touch more and initial touch in casual relationships and as the relationship became more intimate during serious dating or marriage relationships, women would touch more. American culture still dictates that men ‘make the first move’ in the context of a dating relationship.

Touching between married couples may help maintain good health. In a study by University of Virginia psychologist Jim Coan, women under stress showed signs of immediate relief by merely holding their husband’s hand. This seemed to be effective when the woman was part of a satisfying marriage.

Sexual/arousal

According to Givens (1999), the process of nonverbal communication or negotiation is to send and receive messages in an attempt to gain someone’s approval or love. Courtship, which may lead to love, is defined as a nonverbal message designed to attract sexual partners. During courtship, we exchange nonverbal communication gestures to tell each other to come nearer and nearer until we touch. Essential signals in the path to intimacy include facial nuzzles, kissing and caressing each other.

Courtship has five phases which include the attention phase, recognition phase, conversation phase, touching phase, and the love-making phase. Haptics takes place more during the last two phases.

The touching phase:
First touch: Is likely to be more “accidental” than premeditated by touching a neutral body part and where the recipient either accepts the touch or rejects it through body movement.


Hugging: The embrace is the most basic way of telling someone that you love them and possibly need them too.


Intention to touch: A nonverbal communication haptic code or cue is the intention behind it. Reaching your hand across the table to a somewhat unknown person is used as a way to show readiness to touch.


Kissing: Moving in concert by turning heads to allow for the lips to touch is the final part of the fourth stage of courtship, the kiss.


The final phase, love-making, which includes tactile stimulation during foreplay known as the light or protopathic touch. Any feelings of fear or apprehension may be calmed through other touching like kissing, nuzzling, and a gentle massage.

Meanings of touch

Touch research conducted by Jones and Yarbrough (1985) revealed 18 different meanings of touch, grouped in seven types: Positive affect (emotion), playfulness, control, ritual, hybrid (mixed), task-related, and accidental touch.

Positive affect touches

These touches communicate positive emotions and occur mostly between persons who have close relationships. These touches can be further classified as support, appreciation, inclusion, sexual interest or intent, and affection.

Support: Serve to nurture, reassure, or promise protection. These touches generally occur in situations which either virtually require or make it clearly preferable that one person show concern for another who is experiencing distress.

Appreciation: Express gratitude for something another person has done.

Inclusion: Draw attention to the act of being together and suggest psychological closeness.

Sexual: Express physical attraction or sexual interest.

Affection: Express generalized positive regard beyond mere acknowledgement of the other.

Playful touches

These touches serve to lighten an interaction. These touches communicate a double message since they always involve a play signal, either verbal or nonverbal, which indicates the behavior is not to be taken seriously. These touches can be further classified as affectionate and aggressive.

Playful affection: Serve to lighten interaction. The seriousness of the positive message is diminished by the play signal. These touches indicate teasing and are usually mutual.

Playful aggression: Like playful affection these touches are used to serve to lighten interaction, however, the play signal indicates aggression. These touches are initiated, rather than mutual.

Control touches

These touches serve to direct the behavior, attitude, or feeling state of the recipient. The key feature of these touches is that almost all of the touches are initiated by the person who attempts influence. These touches can be further classified as compliance, attention-getting, and announcing a response.

Compliance: Attempts to direct behavior of another person, and oftentimes, by implication, to influence attitudes or feelings.

Attention-getting: Serve to direct the touch recipient’s perceptual focus toward something.

Announcing a response: Call attention to and emphasize a feeling state of initiator; implicitly requests affect response from another.

Ritualistic touches

These touches consist of greeting and departure touches. They serve no other function than to help make transitions in and out of focused interaction.

Greeting: Serve as part of the act of acknowledging another at the opening of an encounter.

Departure: Serve as a part of the act of closing an encounter

Hybrid touches

These touches involve two or more of the meanings described above. These touches can be further classified as greeting/affection and departure/affection.

Greeting/affection: Express affection and acknowledgement of the initiation of an encounter

Departure/affection: Express affection and serve to close an encounter

Task-related touches

These touches are directly associated with the performance of a task. These touches can be further classified as reference to appearance, instrumental ancillary, and instrumental intrinsic.

Reference to appearance: Point out or inspect a body part or artefact referred to in a verbal comment about appearance

Instrumental ancillary: Occur as an unnecessary part of the accomplishment of a task.

Instrumental intrinsic: Accomplish a task in and out of itself i.e., a helping touch.

Accidental touches

These touches are perceived as unintentional and have no meaning. They consist mainly of brushes.

Power and touch

Social psychologists French and Raven developed five categories of power, postulating that power holders rely upon one or more types of power bases to achieve their goals. These bases include legitimate power, referent power, expert power, reward power, and coercive power. Although French and Raven’s power base attributes vary significantly, they each have the common touching characteristics.

Legitimate power

Power of an individual because of the position they hold. It is a formal power delegated by a higher source. It is more acceptable for these power sources to touch subordinates with a reassuring pat on the shoulder for a job well done. In addition, one establishes legitimate power by shaking hands in a specific manner

Referent power

Holders possess a more lasting power- the ability to persuade and influence others by simply being likable. Their power is based on charm, popularity, or attractive features. Referent power holders can be identified because they are often hugging friends, patting a coworkers hand for comfort, shaking hands frequently, or flirtatiously touching someone’s arm.

Expert power

Holders gain their power in an entirely different way. They hold the key to information and are highly sought after based on their skills or expertise. Their power differs from other power bases because it is specific to a profession or industry. These individuals use a lack of touch to assert non-verbal power or may be seen using touch in a condescending manner.

Reward power

This type of power is contingent on the ability of the power holder to dispense rewards such as raises, vacation, recognition, or promotions. Rewards can also be dispensed with a handshake or pat on the back. Recipients seeking rewards may engage in touch mirroring or ingratiation in an effort to elevate their chances of being well received and, subsequently, the recipient of coveted awards.

Coercive power

Coercive power is Machiavellian in nature and is the opposite of reward power. Individuals who hold this power can withhold rewards and control others through fear and manipulation. They exert power through bodily insulation or lack of touch, which according to DeVito, Guerrero, and Hecht (1990) “characteristically takes the form of civil inattention and may be occasioned by a subordinate’s inability to repel invasion directly” (p.182). They may use physical or violent touching to exert their control.

Culture and touch

The amount of touching that occurs within a culture is largely based on whether the relative high context or low context of the culture.

High context culture

A culture that assumes that its members already know the cultural rules. Expectations do not have to be outlined or specifically verbalized. In a high context culture, many things are left unsaid, and cues are given in a subtle manner. High context cultures are prevalent in eastern cultures and in countries where the cultural demographics don’t vary widely. High-context means that "most of the information is either in the physical context or initialized in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message." (Hall, 1976, p 79). High context cultures have a strong sense of tradition and history, and change little over time. The unchanging culture solidifies rules and expectations throughout time. Members know exactly when to touch and how to touch based on a strict nonverbal commonly understood code. The Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America are examples of high context cultures.

Low context culture

A culture that communicates societal expectations through words as opposed to inferences or contexts. Low-context communication is "the mass of information is vested in the explicit code" (Hall, 1976 p 70). People from low-context cultures value facts, figures, and candor. Americans and Germans are typically regarded as low context cultures who value the individual in the society.

Country references

Non-touching countries: Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Australia


Middle ground countries: France, China, India


Touching countries: Middle East, Latin Countries, Italy

Internal cultural differences

Frequency of touch also varies significantly between different cultures. Harper refers to several studies, one of which examined touching in coffee houses. During a one hour sitting 180 touchings were observed for Puerto Ricans, 110 for French, none for English and 2 for Americans. (Harper, 297). In order to know if someone was touching more frequently than normal it would be necessary to first know what is normal in that culture. In high touch countries a kiss on the cheek is considered a polite greeting while in Sweden it may be considered presumptuous. Jandt relates that two men holding hands will in some countries be a sign of friendly affection, whereas in the United States the same tactile code would probably be interpreted as a symbol of homosexual love (85).

Quote

I needed so much/ To have nothing to touch/ I've always been greedy that way.. -Leonard Cohen, from The Night Comes On (1984)

See also

• Cultural Studies
• Edward T. Hall
• Nonverbal communication
• Power (sociology)
• Bertram Raven
• Frotteurism
• Groping
• Massage
• Negiah

References

Borisoff, D., & Victor, D.A. (1989). Conflict management: A communication skills approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Burgoon, J. K., Buller, D. B., & Woodall, W. G. (1996), Nonverbal communication: The unspoken dialogue (2nd ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill.

Carney, R., Hall A, and LeBeau L. (2005). Beliefs about the nonverbal expression of social power. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29(2),118.

Phyllis Davis: The Power of Touch - The Basis for Survival, Health, Intimacy, and Emotional Well-Being

DeVito J., Guerrero, L. and Hecht, M.(1999). The nonverbal communication reader: classic and contemporary readings. (2nd ed). Illinois: Waveland Press.

Givens, David B. (2005). Love Signals: A Practical Field Guide to the Body Language of Courtship, St. Martin's Press, New York.

Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places, New York: Free Press.

Guerrero, L. (2004), Chicago Sun-Times, “Women like man’s touch, but there’s a catch. They prefer to see it on another man, research shows,” 11-12.

Hall, E. T. The Silent Language (1959). New York: Anchor Books, 1990.

Harper, J. (2006), The Washington Times, “Men hold key to their wives’ calm”, A10.

Harper, R. G., Wiens, A. N. and Matarazzo J. D. Nonverbal communication: The State of the Art. Wiley Series on Personality Processes (1978). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Hayward V, Astley OR, Cruz-Hernandez M, Grant D, Robles-De-La-Torre G. Haptic interfaces and devices. Sensor Review 24(1), pp. 16-29 (2004).

Heslin, R. (1974, May) Steps toward a taxomony of touching. Paper presented to the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Holden, R. (1993). How to utilize the power of laughter, humour and a winning smile at work. Employee Counseling Today, 5, 17-21.

Jandt, F. E. Intercultural Communication (1995). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.

Jones & Yarbrough (1985), A naturalistic study of the meanings of touch.Communication Monographs, 52., 19-56.

Morri, D. (1977), Manwatching : A field guide to human behavior. New York: Abrams.

Ashley Montagu: Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, Harper Paperbacks, 1986

Patterson, M. L. (1988). Functions of nonverbal behavior in close relationships. In S. W. Duck (Ed.), Handbook of personal relationships. New York: Springer-Verlag.

Robles-De-La-Torre G. & Hayward V. Force Can Overcome Object Geometry In the perception of Shape Through Active Touch. Nature 412 (6845):445-8 (2001).

Robles-De-La-Torre G. The Importance of the Sense of Touch in Virtual and Real Environments. IEEE Multimedia 13(3), Special issue on Haptic User Interfaces for Multimedia Systems, pp. 24-30 (2006).

Van Swol, L. (2003). The effects of nonverbal mirroring on perceived persuasiveness, agreement with an imitator, and reciprocity in a group discussion. Communication Research, 30(4), 20.

Walton, D. (1989), Are you communicating? You can’t manage without it, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Publishing.

Whitcher, S. J., & Fisher, J. D., (1979). Multidimensional reaction to therapeutic touch in a hospital setting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 87-96.

Suggested reading

Burgoon, J. K. (1993). Nonverbal signals. In M. L. Knapp, & G. R. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (2nd. ed., pp. 229-285). Sage.

Burgoon, J. K. & Buller, D.B and Woodall, W.G. (1996). Nonverbal communications: The unspoken dialogue (Second edition). McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070089957.

DePaulo, B. M., & Friedman, H. S. (1998). Nonverbal communication. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), The handbook of social psychology. (4th Edition, Vol. 2, pp. 3-40). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Guerrero, L.K., DeVito, J.A., & Hecht, M.L. (Eds) (1999). The nonverbal communication reader: Classic and contemporary reading. (2nd ed.). Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland. ISBN 1577660404.

Hickson III, M. L. and Stacks, D. W. (2001). Nonverbal Communication: Studies and applications (4th edition). Roxbury Publishing Company. ISBN 1891487205

Leathers, D. (1997). Successful nonverbal communication: Principles and applications. Allyn & Bacon. ISBN 0205262309

Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating Across Cultures. The Guilford Press. ISBN 1572304456.

External links

• Touch Research Institute
• Touch and sexuality
• Skin hunger