INTERNATIONAL PATTERNS OF INTERPERSONAL TACTILE COMMUNICATION - A FIELD-STUDY

An awareness of how touch is employed in communicative interactions am ong peoples of different nations can be a critical requisite to effect ive intercultural communication. This study examined cross-sex, interp ersonal, public touch to determine whether (1) the number of body area s touched varied between members of different societies; (2) the type of relationship between dyadic partners influenced tactile behavior; a nd (3) the amount of total body areas touched for each society correla ted with latitude of origin. Variation in interpersonal touch as a fun ction of nationality was confirmed. Results also confirmed that touch between dyads from an international sample was affected by type of rel ationship. Correspondence in the occurrence of tactile behavior among dyads from similar latitudes of origin was not confirmed. Findings cal l into question the designation of Northern European and U.S. cultures as non-contact.