proxemics, haptics, oculesics, kinesics, olfactics

Excerpt from Lee Su Kim's A Nyonya in Texas

"Our sense of proxemics, the non-verbals we employ, our haptics, oculesics, kinesics and olfactics are culture-bound, internalised by us as the result of the cultures we grew up in."

What a mouthful!! Here's the meanings of those big big words.

proxemics
- Sociology, Psychology. the study of the spatial requirements of humans and animals and the effects of population density on behavior, communication, and social interaction.
- Linguistics. the study of the symbolic and communicative role in a culture of spatial arrangements and variations in distance, as in how far apart individuals engaged in conversation stand depending on the degree of intimacy between the

haptics
- the branch of psychology that investigates cutaneous sense data.

oculesics
- the use of the eyes in a communication setting. Whereas in most Western cultures, the use of direct eye contact symbolises listening and attention, direct eye contact is seen as unfavourable by, for example, various Asian cultures.

kinesics
–the study of body movements, gestures, facial expressions, etc., as a means of communication.

olfactics
- is the sense of smell driven by the detection of volatile or, in the case of the accessory olfactory system, fluid-phase chemicals. The chemicals themselves, generally at very low concentrations, are called odors.