Touch
Touch is important in everyone's life. It is a basic need; we need to be touched, to be stroked and have physical contact with other people to survive. Tactile communication is communication through touching. It is one of the most personal and powerful means of communication because it can create the most positive or the most negative reaction.
Touch is often difficult to understand because norms of acceptable behavior and the context of the situation govern when touch is appropriate . Touch can tell us a lot about a person; for instance, it can tell us something about respecting and trusting someone.
There are different types of touch that vary on a continuum from impersonal to intimate.
- Functional-professional touch is an impersonal, nonintimate but necessary form of touch.
- Social-polite touch is a form of acknowledging the presence of others.
- Friendship-warmth touch is designed to show affection for those who are considered relationally close.
- Love-intimacy and sexual arousal touch are used for only the most personal situations.
Touch and intimacy are very much connected. Intimacy is often expressed by the frequency and intensity of touch in combination with other signals such as: physical closeness, eye contact, smile and content of conversation. Such signals give us information about the desired level of intimacy. This form of nonverbal communication can be soothing and comforting, or abrasive and annoying, if used excessively.
In short , tactile communication, if used moderately, is regarded as a powerful form of nonverbal communication. Touch can indicate the empathic relationship between people. A momentary and seemingly incidental touch can establish a positive, temporary bond between a tutor and his or her student, resulting in better impression formations of the tutor. This makes for a more productive tutorial session, which can make for a better grade for the student.
|
