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The Channels of Nonverbal Communication 107

products’ cleaning power; instead, they function solely to create an image for the Communication
products. There is also evidence that we can identify specific significant others by Choice Point
smell. For example, young children were able to identify the T-shirts of their broth- smell
ers and sisters solely by smell (Porter & Moore, 1981). Your colleague in the next
cubicle wears extremely strong cologne that
you find horrendous. You can’t continue
tOuch cOMMuNIcatION smelling this horrible scent any longer. What
Touch communication, or tactile communication, is perhaps the most primitive choices do you have to changing this colleague’s
form of nonverbal communication (Montagu, 1971). Touch develops before the use of cologne? What might you say? What
channel would you use?
other senses; a child is stimulated by touch even in the womb. Soon after birth,
the child is fondled, caressed, patted, and stroked. In turn, the child explores its
world through touch and quickly learns to communicate a variety of meanings
through touch.
Touching varies greatly from one culture to another. For example, African Americans
touch each other more than European Americans; and touching declines from kindergarten
to the sixth grade for European Americans but not for African American children (Burgoon,
Guerrero, & Floyd, 2010). Japanese people touch each other much less than Anglo-Saxons,
who in turn touch much less than southern Europeans (Morris, 1977; Burgoon, Guerrero, &
Floyd, 2010).
Not surprisingly, touch also varies with your relationship stage. In the early stages of acquain-
tance, you touch little; in intermediate stages of relationship development (i.e., involvement
and intimacy), you touch a great deal; and at stable or deteriorating stages of a relationship,
you again touch little (Guerrero & Andersen, 1991).

the Meanings of touch Researchers in the field of haptics, or the study of touch com-
munication, have identified the major meanings of touch (Jones, 2005; Jones & Yarbrough,
1985). Here are five of the most important:
● Touch may communicate positive emotions, such as support, appreciation, inclusion,
sexual interest or intent, and affection.
● Touch often communicates playfulness, either affectionately or aggressively.
● Touch may also control or direct the behaviors, attitudes, or feelings of another person. To
get attention, for example, you may touch a person as if to say, “Look at me” or “Look
over here.”
● Ritual touching centers on greetings and departures, as in shaking hands to say hello or
good-bye, or hugging, kissing, or putting your arm around another’s shoulder when greet-
ing or saying farewell.
● Task-related touching occurs while you are performing some function—for example,
removing a speck of dust from another person’s face or helping someone out of a car.
As you can imagine, touching may also get you into trouble. For example, touching that
is too positive (or too intimate) too early in a relationship may send the wrong signals. Simi-
larly playing that is too rough or holding someone’s arm to control their movements may be
resented. Using ritualistic touching incorrectly or in ways that may be culturally insensitive
may likewise get you into difficulty.

touch avoidance Much as we have a tendency to touch and be touched, we also have a Explore the Exercise
tendency to avoid touch from certain people or in certain circumstances. Researchers in non- “Do You Avoid Touch?”
verbal communication have found some interesting relationships between touch avoidance at MyCommunicationLab
and other significant communication variables (Andersen & Leibowitz, 1978).
Touch avoidance is positively related to communication apprehension: Those who fear
oral communication also score high on touch avoidance. Touch avoidance is also high in
those who self-disclose little. Both touch and self-disclosure are intimate forms of communi-
cation; people who are reluctant to get close to another person by self-disclosing also seem
reluctant to get close by touching.