Tactility and it's Importance.

I recently read the article, How Touch Can Influence Judgments by Steve Bradt. The article discusses the importance of touch (tactile) and the impression it leaves. This is particularly interersting considering job interviews, and salary negotiations. You may want to review the excerpts below from that article.

The research was conducted by psychologists at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Yale University. The authors say the work suggests that physical touch … is that …. which people build their social judgments and decisions.

Psychologists report in the journal Science that interpersonal interactions can be shaped, profoundly yet unconsciously, by the physical attributes of incidental objects: ……. while a negotiator seated in a soft chair is less likely to drive a hard bargain.

“Touch remains perhaps the most underappreciated sense in behavioral research,” said co-author Christopher C. Nocera, a graduate student in Harvard’s Department of Psychology. “Our work suggests that greetings involving touch, such as handshakes and cheek kisses, may in fact have critical influences on our social interactions, in an unconscious fashion.”

“First impressions are liable to be influenced by the tactile environment, and control over this environment may be especially important for negotiators, pollsters, job seekers, and others interested in interpersonal communication,” the authors wrote in the latest issue of Science. “The use of ‘tactile tactics’ may represent a new frontier in social influence and communication.”