Abstract
Touch has been described as both the most basic sensory process and the earliest and most elemental form of communication (Frank, 1957; Montagu, 1971). Unlike other forms of nonverbal communication (e.g., eye gaze, proxemics, paralanguage), a separate term does not exist for the sensory process (e.g., vision, hearing) and the communication process (e.g., gaze, speech). Rather, the same term, touch, generally is used to describe the sensory process, specific stimuli, and the communication mechanism. This chapter focuses on the communication properties of touch in general, and gender patterns in tactile communication, in particular.
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Major, B. (1981). Gender Patterns in Touching Behavior. In: Mayo, C., Henley, N.M. (eds) Gender and Nonverbal Behavior. Springer Series in Social Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5953-4_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5953-4_2
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