Significance of Touch in Culture

Tactile communication or communication by touch, also referred to as haptics, is perhaps the most primitive form of communication.

The meanings of Touch

There are five major meanings of touch:

Positive emotions may be communicated by touch, mainly between intimates or others who have relatively close relationship. Among the most important of these positive emotions are support, appreciation, inclusion, sexual interest or intent and affection. Touch has been found to facilitate self- disclosure.

Touch often communicates playfulness, either affectionately or aggressively. When touch is used in this manner, the playfulness deemphasizes the emotion and tells the other person that it's not to be taken seriously. Playful touch lighten an interaction.

Touch also may control the behaviors, attitudes or feelings of the other person. Such control may communicate various different kinds of messages. To ask for compliance, for example, we touch the other person to communicate "Move over," "Hurry," "Stay here," or "Do it." Touching to control may also communicate status and dominance. The higher- status and dominance person, for example, initiates touch. In fact, it would be a breach of etiquette for the lower- status person to touch the person of higher status.

Ritualistic touching centers on greeting and departures. Shaking hands to say hello or goodbye is perhaps the clearest example of ritualistic touching, but we might also hug, kiss or put an arm around another's shoulder.

Task- related touching is associated with the performance of a function, such as removing a speck of dust from another's person face, helping someone out of a car, or checking someone's forehead for fever. Task- related touching seems generally to be regarded positively.

The above examples were based on studies in North America; in other culture these function are not served in the some way. In some cultures, for example, some task- related touching is viewed negatively and is to be avoided. Among Koreans it is considered disrespectful for a store owner to touch a customer in , say, handing back change; it is consider too intimate a gesture. A member of another culture who is used to such touching may consider the Korean's behavior cold and aloof. Muslim children are socialized not to touch members of the opposite sex; their behavior can easily be interpreted that unfriendly by American children who are used to touching one another.

Some cultures- including many in southern Europe and the Middle East- are contact cultures; others are non contact cultures, such as those of northern Europe and Japan. Members of contact cultures maintain close distance, touch one another in conversation, face each other more directly, and maintain longer and more focused eye contact. Members of non contact cultures maintain greater distance in their interaction, touch each other rarely, avoid facing each other directly, and maintain much less direct eye contact. As a result, , of these differences, problems may occur. For example, northern European and Japanese may be perceived as cold, distant and uninvolved by southern Europeans- who may in turn be perceived as pushy, aggressive and inappropriately intimate.