Haptic categories
Contenido
Heslin (1974) delineó cinco categorías hápticas:.
• - funcional/profesional.
• - social/cortés.
• - amistoso/cálido.
• - amor/intimidad.
• - sexual/estimulación.
El acto de tocar no es exclusivo, y el contacto físico puede implicar cada una de las categorías definidas por Heslin.
Functional/professional
Managers know the effectiveness of using physical contact while communicating with their subordinates, but they must be careful and understand that they can be misunderstood; a pat on the back may mean a gesture of support for some, while for others it may mean a sexual advance. Administrators must know and be aware of the tolerance levels that each person has regarding physical contact.
Henley's 1977 research found that a person with power tends to touch a subordinate, but the subordinate is not free to touch in the same way. The action of touching is a powerful tool in non-verbal communication and this difference between superior and subordinate can lead to confusion whether the touch is motivated by dominance or familiarity, according to Borisoff and Victor (1989).
The first connection with another person in a professional setting usually begins with physical contact, specifically a handshake. The way a person shakes a hand can say a lot about them and their personality. Chiarella (2006) wrote an article for the readers of Esquire magazine, mostly men, about how the handshake varies from person to person and how they send non-verbal messages. In this article Chiarella mentioned how maintaining the squeeze for more than two seconds could result in stopping the verbal conversation as it is canceled by non-verbal communication.[5].
Walton (1989) wrote in his book that touching is the ultimate expression of closeness or trust between two people, which is often not seen in business or formal relationships. Physical contact accentuates the importance of the message sent. "If a word of congratulation is accompanied by a pat on the back, it is like placing the gold star on the ribbon," Walton wrote.
Social/polite
In many cases, cultural aspects blur the boundaries between one haptic category and another, making moving between categories very confusing. Consider, for example, the act of touching a person's forearm: this act is considered socially correct in many places in the United States, but in the Midwest it is not always considered acceptable behavior.
Jones describes that communication with physical contact is the most familiar and committed form and that it helps us maintain good relationships with others. His study with Yarbrough covered both contact sequences and individual touches.[6].
Contact sequences fall into two different types, repetitive and strategic. Repetitive is when the people involved take turns touching each other. Most of these contacts are considered positive. For its part, touches are considered strategic when they have an ulterior or hidden objective, seeming that contact is used as a game to achieve something from someone.
Individual contacts are more common than sequences, and must be interpreted according to the context, the nature of the relationship, and the type of social environment created at the time the person is touched.
Yarbrough designed a map for how and where to play. He designated the different parts of the body according to whether they were touchable or not. Non-vulnerable parts of the body are the hands, arms, back, and upper back. Vulnerable parts are all other regions of the body.
Polite inattention is the polite way of handling interaction with strangers without actually establishing any interpersonal communication or having the need to respond to contact by a stranger. Goffman (1963) used the case of an elevator to explain this phenomenon. Inside the elevator a person does not look, talk or touch the person next to them; However, if there are many people inside the elevator, they may be close enough to touch each other, but even in this case each person maintains an expressionless behavior so that no one around is affected.
Friendly/warm
Witcher and Fisher (1979) conducted a study to determine whether "therapeutic touch" to reduce anxiety varied between sexes. A nurse was instructed to caress patients for one minute while they looked at a pamphlet during a routine preoperative procedure. Women reacted positively to the touch, while men did not. It was then conjectured that men identified touch with being treated as inferior or dependent.
It has been found that physical contact between family members affects the behavior of those involved. Several factors operate within the family context. As children grow, contact from parents decreases. Men tend to distance themselves from their parents at a younger age than women, and there is usually more contact with the parent of the same sex than with the parent of the opposite sex.
A non-verbal communication study on how men converse in bars showed that women prefer men who touch while they talk, but what catches their attention is when they touch other men. "The man who touches others is perceived as having a higher status and greater social power" than men who are touched or who do not touch others.
The study showed that women were more receptive to men who demanded more social space, and that they move their glasses to the side when a woman enters the bar, indicating that there is space in their domains for her.
Love/intimacy
Physical contact is the non-verbal behavior that has the greatest effect on interpersonal relationships, and it increases as this relationship moves from impersonal to personal.
Three areas of contact between couples when they are in public have been studied. The amount of contact between couples when they are in the early stages of their relationship, how much of this contact continues between the couple and its magnitude relative to the contact shown, as well as who initiates contact and when.
Contact in public serves as a signal of bondage or possession, to show others that the other person is taken (Morris, 1977). When a couple holds hands, or hugs, they are showing others that they are together. These types of signals are commonly used in the courtship stage and their use decreases once the couple reaches marriage according to Burgoon, Buller and Woodal (1996).
Studies have also shown differences in who touches and when based on gender. In the initial stages of the relationship, men need to show social control, so they follow the male role that society establishes. Patterson (1988) indicated that men, in response to the social role, tend to initiate contact in casual relationships and touch more at the beginning of the relationships, this behavior is assumed by women as the relationship becomes more serious or in marriage. In the United States, society still dictates that the man is the one who makes the first move in the context of a date.
Physical contact between married couples can help maintain good health. In a study by psychoanalyst Jim Coan at the University of Virginia, women under stress showed almost immediate relief just by holding their husbands' hands. This appears to be effective when the woman is satisfied with her marriage.
Sexual/stimulation
According to Givens (1999), the process of nonverbal communication or negotiation is sending and receiving messages in an attempt to gain the approval or love of another person. Courtship, which could lead to love, is defined as nonverbal messages designed to attract sexual partners. During courtship, we exchange non-verbal gestures where one tells the other to come closer and closer until they touch. Essential cues for intimacy include nuzzling, kissing, and tenderness.
Courtship has five phases which include attention phase, recognition phase, conversation phase, physical contact phase, lovemaking phase. The last two phases are the haptic phases.
The contact phase:
• - First contact: It seems more "accidental" than premeditated, a neutral part of the body is touched and the recipient can accept or reject the contact with a movement of the body.
• - Hug: The hug is the most basic way to tell someone that you love them and that they are possibly also needed or wanted.
• - Contact intention: A haptic code or clue is the intention behind the non-verbal message. Extending your hand under the table towards a somewhat unknown person is an action used to indicate that there is a good disposition towards contact.
• - Kissing: Turning heads in coordination to allow lips to touch is the end of the fourth phase of courtship.
The intercourse phase:
• - Lovemaking is the last phase and includes tactile stimulation during anticipatory play or prelude and is known as soft or protopathic touch. Any feelings of fear or apprehension can be calmed using other caresses such as kissing, stroking the face with the nose, or a gentle massage.