What Is Importance Of Touching In Non-verbal Communication?
Touching is also an important kind of nonverbal communication. Compared with people in some other cultures, American usually do not touch each other very much. In one study researchers observed people seated in outdoor cafes in each of four cultures. They counted the number of touches during one hour of conversation. The results were: San Juan, Puerto Rico, 180 per hour, Paris 110 per hour, Gainesville, Florida, 1 per hour and London 0 per hour. When we do touch, however we follow patterns of where we touch. Jourand observed where people get touched and came up with a list of body parts considered touchable in our culture. For both men and women the four most acceptable places are hands, arms, top of head and shoulders. Another important aspects of touching in a business setting has to do with how we touch. Heslin breaks touching into five categories one is functional or professional touching to perform a task or service as by a dentist with a patient, second is social touching to affi
