Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much

[katty]

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html?em

Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much


By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: February 22, 2010

Psychologists have long studied the grunts and winks of nonverbal communication, the vocal tones and facial expressions that carry emotion. A warm tone of voice, a hostile stare — both have the same meaning in Terre Haute or Timbuktu, and are among dozens of signals that form a universal human vocabulary.

A quick hug, fist pound, high five or belly bump can communicate a wide range of emotions, sometimes more accurately than words.

But in recent years some researchers have begun to focus on a different, often more subtle kind of wordless communication: physical contact. Momentary touches, they say — whether an exuberant high five, a warm hand on the shoulder, or a creepy touch to the arm — can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words.

“It is the first language we learn,” said Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of “Born to Be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life” (Norton, 2009), and remains, he said, “our richest means of emotional expression” throughout life.

[monmouth]

1. Okay, so those little winks from Sarah communicate what? I'm your

buddy, this is 'tween you and me, I'm with ya all the way? You betcha....LOL.

[katty]

2. Ha! fr SP?! more like a replicant tryin' to 'be human'

[formercia]

4. How about buying me a drink, GI?

Love you long time.

[Sal Minella]

3. Makes sense. A quick touch from someone I love is as good as a big hug,

and a quick touch from someone I don't like makes me want to take my skin off and launder it.

It's instantaneous and feels completely physical, not emotional.