How is touch used in communication

Even though we become somewhat touch-phobic as we age, this first language is deeply engrained in us. A study by Matthew Hertenstein found that participants were effectively able to communicate eight out of 12 emotions by using touch alone. The results of this study suggest that touch is very nuanced and a better way of conveying emotions than facial expressions and voice.

Our sense of touch is also designed to communicate clearly and quickly. It can even communicate subconsciously. Take, for example, touching a hot stove burner. Gestures include communication through eye contact, body posture, hand signals, and facial expressions; however, here we will focus on hand signals as the other forms can be found in other tabs.

The use of Gestures in Nonverbal Communication falls under "Chironomia", the art of using hand gestures in order to communicate, or "Kinesics" which is the interpretation of non-verbal behaviour involving movement.

Examples of communicative gestures are waving, saluting, handshakes, pointing, or a thumbs up. There are voluntary and involuntary gestures. Waving to a friend would be an intentional method of saying hello, while throwing one's arms up in exasperation may be an involuntary reaction to feelings of frustration or anger.

Gestures are not universal, what may mean one thing for us can mean something entirely different for another culture. For example, nodding one's head in Canada means 'yes', while nodding one's head in Bulgaria means 'no'. Although gestures do not carry the same meaning across different cultures, they are universal in the sense that every culture uses them; there have been no reports of communities that do not use gestures.

Sign language involves an entire repertoire of hand gestures that create a language for those who cannot speak orally, this is categorized as a "gestural language". Gestures can be the most effective non-verbal tools to express meaning, and many people make use of them to supplement verbal communication, or simply to express themselves silently. For example, a teacher may sternly tell a student to "be quiet" while pointing a finger at them, or a man at a bar may wink at a girl instead of shouting across the room to her.

Gestures can be speech-dependent pointing to something while one is talking about it or speech-independent peace sign, wave hello. Gestures can also carry strong spiritual or religious significance, such as making the sign of the cross in christianity, or forming mudras in Hinduism or Buddhism. Conflict management: A communication skills approach. Burgoon, J. Carney, R. Beliefs about the nonverbal expression of social power.

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