Touch: Long before the child has developed language he learns to communicate through tactile contact. However there is lot of cultural difference between interpreting this cue. Women are more receptive in distinguishing touch that reflects warmth and the touch that expresses sexual desire while men are not very sensitive to touch.
The touch is interpreted positively if the toucher is a high status person. Women friends touch each other more frequently. Older people initiate touch towards younger people more frequently. It is also observed that females are more touched by than the men and the men are more likely to initiate touch with women than women are with men.
Gestures and postures:
This non-verbal cue is the most difficult to interpret as it is varies from culture to culture. Whatever is a friendly gesture in one country may be very obscene in other. Learning culture appropriate gestures before planning any business visit to other country thus proves essential.
Gestures and posture reflect intimacy and nature of relationship. Friends sit next to each other while competitors face each other.
It also reflects status. High status person has relaxed while low status person has rigid body posture while interacting with each other.
People tend to have more relaxed posture while among friends, same sex or same status people.
We tend to lean forward when we take interest in conversation.
Though all these non-verbal cues are helpful in communication they are not always reliable. People learn to hide or manipulate them so unless you are very sensitive to them it is quite difficult to interpret them accurately.
