haptic communication haptic communication 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 is the most sophisticated and intimate of the five senses. touch or haptics, from the ancient greek word haptikos is extremely important for communication; it is vital for survival. a boy laughing as he is tickled touch is the first sense to develop in the fetus. 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. infants who can perceive through touch, even without sight and hearing, tend to fare much better. 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. touch can come in many different forms, some can promote physical and psychological well-being. a warm, loving touch can lead to positive outcomes while a violent touch can ultimately lead to a negative outcome. 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). striking, pushing, pulling, pinching, kicking, strangling and hand-to-hand fighting are forms of touch in the context of physical abuse. categories heslin outlines five haptic categories: functional/professionalexpresses task-orientation social/politeexpresses ritual interaction friendship/warmthexpresses idiosyncratic relationship love/intimacyexpresses emotional attachment sexual/arousalexpresses sexual intent 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 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. walton 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 stresses 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. the most common use of haptic touch in business is the handshake. a handshake in the business world is key to giving a good first impression. however, there are different forms of the handshake that can be given in an appropriate situation which include: a firm handshake (communicates confidence and strength), a limp handshake (conveys weakness and dishonesty), a clasp (use of both hands displays a high level of respect), and a handshake with grip (displays intimidation and dominance). social/polite moving from one haptic category to another can become blurred by culture. there are many areas in the united states where a touch on the forearm is accepted as socially correct and polite. however, in the midwest, this is not always an acceptable behavior. the initial connection to another person in a professional setting usually starts off with a touch, specifically a handshake. a person's handshake can speak volumes about them and their personality. chiarella wrote an article for esquire magazine explaining to the predominantly 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. a handshake is not only limited to a professional setting but as well an important aspect of youth's team sports. hamilton wrote that the handshake represents the end-of-game as an embodied ritual, form of intimate touch, and legal gesture. jones explained communication with touch as the most intimate and involving form which helps people 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 them. 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 uses an elevator study to explain this phenomenon. it is uncommon for people to look at, talk to, or touch the person next to them. while it may be so crowded that they 'touch' another person, they will often maintain an expressionless demeanor so not to affect those around them. friendship/warmth it is more acceptable for women to touch than men in social or friendship settings, possibly because of the inherent dominance of the person touching over the person being touched. women and girls are commonly known for interacting with each other through touch than men and boys do. this is thought to be because same-sex touch is acceptable for women. whitcher and fisher conducted a study to see whether friendly touch in a healthcare setting reduced anxiety equally or differently between men and women. 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, whereas 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. touch is a way that a child can express positive emotion. for example, physical affection, like hugs, can serve as an overt display of love. various factors are at work within a family setting. as a child grows older, the amount of touching by the parent decreases although it does continue to be an important social behavior for that child to communicate positive or negative emotions later in their future. a study of nonverbal communication on how men 'converse' in bars shows that women like men to touch, but it is 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 woman comes into a bar, men will move their drinks far apart to signal to her that they have space in their 'domain' for them. healthy touch 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 couple in the initial stages of a romantic relationship; how much touching goes on between the couple, and the extent of 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 one's partner is "taken". when a couple is holding hands or putting their arms around each other, this is a tie sign showing others that they are together. 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. studies have also shown a difference between the sexes on who touches when. in the initial stages of a relationship, men often follow socially prescribed gender roles. patterson indicated that men fulfilling this social role would touch more and after 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 dating and relationships. 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. violence