In the article Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much, Benedict Carey of the New York Times tells us of a new, rather peculiar study. Carey introduces the study with the description of another very similar study. For quite a while, physiologists have researched and examined body language, a unique vocabulary that we as humans may not notice. A smile, a wink, or a sour face we might make at an enemy all have special meanings that we might not be able to explain in words. However, we don’t have to; our body is capable of interpreting body language far faster than we process words. Another subconscious language that we seem to ignore is human touch. A high five, fist bump, or a pat on the back all have special meaning that we might not understand, but our body does. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at Cal Berkeley, tells us that touch is the first language we learn as human beings. He also tells us that touch is “our richest means of emotional expression.” When a student receives a pat on the back from a teacher they are twice as likely to participate in the classroom. Emotion expressed through touch can not only give us confidence in the classroom, but also on the field. A research team from Berkeley, led by Michael W. Kraus, took the study onto the NBA court. Psychologists consider basketball to be a sport where the strongest bonds between players are formed through human touch. After observing each and every team of the National Basketball Association, the Cal team concluded that the two teams that interacted the most using fist pounds, chest bumps, and high fives were the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics. Coincidentally, these two teams were of the best in the NBA. The two teams who interacted the least through touch were the Charlotte Bobcats and the Sacramento Kings. And these franchises are of course, two of the worst teams in the NBA. Two of the “touchiest” players in basketball were Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh. Bosh of the Toronto Raptors is considered one of the best forwards currently in basketball and Garnett not too long ago led his team to a championship win. “Within 600 milliseconds of shooting a free throw, Garnett has reached out and touched four guys,” Dr. Dacher Keltner said. The secret behind the high five and chest bump is simply the excitement it provides and the stress that it relieves.
Although this research carries well into sports, there is an incredible amount of science in athletics that we often take for granted. After scoring a goal or basket in a close game, players yell, fist pump, and most importantly, make contact with their teammates. Believe or not, that chest bump that you and a teammate connect with exchanges cortisol stress hormones with oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a feeling of trust. When the frontal lobe of the brain is relaxed, problem solving becomes a simpler process and you are able to perform better no matter the task.
The sole problem with the article is that as studied the topic is, the theory is not confirmed. The problem is certainly not with Benedict Carey but rather with the psychologists who have conducted these surveys, interviews, and examinations. There is room to say that this is simply coincidental, but the research seems very convincing. This article was incredibly interesting, especially in the eyes of an athlete. Due to the fact that all I am able to say about the article is that the theory it addresses might be wrong, it is very well presented and researched.
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The review for the article “Evidence that Little Touches Means so much” was very well written and concise. The article stated well that human touch is a very important to our lives since it can help us understand each other at a different level of understanding. Also, it gives good examples of ways that the body can tell messages to others by using high fives and fist bumps. That helps me relate this article to myself and how those small actions can help build trust and understanding with my friends. Also, it explained well why this happens, with the release of stress hormones that lets our brains relax. It helps me on understanding why I feel relaxed with people I know.
ReplyDeleteThis article could have explained more on how the hormones are exchanged and released from the body. Also, if the article was more clear on why the brain recognizes the feelings we get when we exchange touches from other people and how the brain interprets the information. Also, if the review explained more about the frontal lobe of the brain on how it is connected to problem solving might have cleared up on why that it so important that that area of the brain gets relieved of stress.
Something I didn’t know before reading the review was that the human touch is a very important part of our lives and that it helps the brain relieve itself and makes us more trustful to others. I didn’t know that such small actions made us closer to other people, even a small action like a high five. This review was very well written and I have learned a lot.
Dayton did a great job reviewing “Evidence That Little Touches Do Means So Much.” It was well detailed and very well presented. He included very clear details and examples of places where small pats on the shoulder improved people’s over all game in sports and daily life. When reading the review, it was clear that it was very thoroughly researched and he had a clear understanding of the article.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there we’re very good details, he didn’t need to include so many details about basketball and multiple different teams, which made the article a little harder to follow. Also it would have been interesting to hear about how this data was found and what experiments we’re used to prove it.
Overall this was an excellent review, and before reading it I had never known that giving people small pats on the back would release their stress and really improve their quality of work on a daily basis.
I think that the review by Dayton was really well done. It was called “Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much” that was in the New York Times. Dayton did many things well in review this article. The first thing he did well was that he picked a very interesting topic that not a lot of people know about, and that he picked something that has to do with some of the interests he has. When picking an article to review it is important that someone has some sort of interest in what they are reading. Another thing he did very well was that he gave detailed information about the article, including names and quotes from important lines. Lastly, he presents the information in a very easy to read way, and in language that is not too sophisticated for me to understand.
ReplyDeleteI think that something he could improve about his review is about how long it is, because his review was quite lengthy and a little stretched out. Being short and concise is sometimes the best thing to do. Another thing that could be improved is the language that he used, and that it could be a little more formal for this review. Other than those two minor things the review was really successful.
This article taught me a lot I did not know. It is a very interesting subject, and I had no idea that giving a hi-five or a chest bump to a fellow teammate had any sort of mental health value. This article as a whole was new information for me and taught me a lot.
For starters I never knew that human touch was so important in our daily lives. For example, I never knew that if a teacher pats a student on the back then they are twice as likely to participate in class. In addition, it the article gives a good description on how chest bumps and high fives release stress. I also liked how the article said that the brain releases stress hormones which helps the brain relax.
ReplyDeleteHowever in certain areas the article could have been explained more. For instance, I would have liked to know more about how the brain releases hormones and in what part of the brain releases the hormones such as are there different parts of the brain which release different hormones. Also the article was hard to follow when it included details on basketball teams and many other sports teams. I do have a problem with the credibility of this article because the article doesn’t not mention how the data was collected or how the experiment was conducted.
There were many things from this article that I never knew before. Such as, I didn’t know that such a simple thing as patting someone on the back or a chest bump could really improve the quality of their day.