Nonverbal Communication:

1
Lecture 10

• Nonverbal Communication
• Haptics and Kinesics

2
Overview of Haptics

• The average person relies heavily on touch to
  communicate.
• Probably the most basic or primitive form of
  communication.
• Touch remains a crucial aspect of human relations
  throughout our lives.

3
Babies and Touch

• The earliest form of contact that humans have
  with the world is through touch.
• Babies communicate through touch long before they
  can talk.
• Babies main source of information and also main
  way of expression.
• Doctors hands Bathing
• Diaper changing Rocking
• Feeding Comforting

4
Babies and Touch (cont)

• Studies in infant behavior have shown importance
  of touch in the evolution of a healthy adult.
• Infants which have been held, touched and cuddled
  show
• greater gain in weight,
• a higher level of activity,
• greater curiosity and capacity for learning,
• are less sick and handle stress better, and
• live longer.

5
Functions of Touch

• Among adults a vast range of meaning can be
  expressed just by touching.
• Classifying touch into categories
• Functional/Professional
• Social/Polite
• Friendship/Warmth
• Love/Intimacy

6
Functions of Touch (cont)

• Functional/Professional - Most impersonal type of
  touch done as part of job, service or task.
• Physician, Dentist, Nurse
• Barber Hairstylist
• Masseur
• Tailor
• Social/Polite - Affirms the presence of another
  person suggests bond between two.
• Handshake, High five
• Cheek kiss

7
Functions of Touch (cont)

• Friendship/Warmth - Friendly touch for people we
  respect and hold in esteem to show fondness.
• Pat on the back
• Embrace, hug
• Love/Intimacy - Reserved for individuals we care
  deeply about.
• Full embrace
• Stroke of the face
• Kiss
• Sexual intercourse

8
Patterns of Physical Contact

• Study conducted by Prof. Dean Barnland
• Compared physical contact patterns (touching
  patterns) of Japanese and American college
  students.
• Study Group
• College students between 18 and 24
• 120 Japanese and 120 Americans
• Each group had 60 males and 60 females

9
Touching study results (cont)

• The drawings show a large contrast between
  touching patterns in the two cultures.
• Interesting to see that permitted touching is
  greater with the American Father (least amount
  for Americans) than it is for the Opposite
  Japanese Sex Friend (most amount for Japanese).

10
Results of Study - U.S.
11
Results of Study - Japan
12
Physical Contact

• What is touched?
• Almost total agreement between both cultures on
  areas of the body that can be touched and those
  that should not be touched.
• Among Japanese the most frequently reported areas
  of contact were
• Hand Forehead Head
• Shoulder Back of the neck Forearm
• Among Americans the results were the same plus
  the addition of the upper arm.

13
Physical Contact (cont)

• What cant be touched?
• The areas which cant be touched were also
  similar for Japanese and Americans.
• For both culture following were rarely touched.
• front pelvic region rear thigh
• rear pelvic region rear lower leg
• Although some areas of physical avoidance may
  reflect inconvenience rather than inhibition.

14
Physical Contact (cont)

• Who is touched?
• When total physical contact is considered,
  Japanese and Americans showed their highest
  frequency of touching behavior to be with friends
  rather than with parents.
• Japanese showed their order of physical contact
  (most to least) with
• 1) opposite sex friends
• 2) mothers and same sex friends (same)
• 3) fathers.

15
Physical Contact (cont)

• Who is touched?
• Americans showed similar results.
• Order of physical contact (most to least)
• 1) opposite sex friends
• 2) mothers
• 3) same sex friends
• 4) fathers.
• But opposite sex friends scored much higher with
  Americans than Japanese, and fathers ranked very
  close to same sex friends.

16
Physical Contact - Conclusion

• There can be major differences between cultures
  in what areas of the body physical contact is
  permitted and not permitted.
• Each of us knows what is permitted in our own
  culture, as we learn it from our parents and from
  society.
• However, we do not intuitively know what is
  permitted in other cultures.
• Making a mistake may cause an insult or make that
  person angry or uncomfortable.

17
Overview of Kinesics

• Body movements transmit a variety of messages.
• Emotions
• Personality traits
• Attitudes
• Some are explicit others are less clear.
• Different movements can be used to convey the
  same message.
• The same movements can carry different messages.

18
Classes of Movement

• A system has been devised to classify body
  movements into five groups.
• Emblems
• Illustrators
• Affect displays
• Regulators
• Adaptors

19
Classes of Movement (cont)

• Emblems - movements that bring words and phrases
  to the observers mind and are directly
  translatable into specific words.
• Good luck I dont know.
• Its hot. money
• Illustrators - movements that are linked directly
  to a verbal message that clarify or explain what
  is said. They
• accent or emphasize a word or phrase,
• point to objects, and
• picture spatial relationships.

20
Classes of Movement (cont)

• Affect displays - movements that reflect the
  intensity of our emotions or feelings.
• Intense facial expressions Kissing
• Stomping feet Handshake
• Regulators - movements that control the
  back-and-forth nature of speaking.
• Head nods Eye movements
• Posture shift Hand gestures

21
Classes of Movement (cont)

• Adaptors - movements that are unintentional body
  movements in reaction to boredom or stress.
• Holding Scratching
• Rubbing Picking
• Squeezing Pinching
• Pen twirling
• Playing with an object
• Playing with ones hair or clothing
• Making restless movements with hands or feet