Haptics and Perception by Sarah Cooper

Haptics and Perception by Sarah Cooper

In an increasingly digital world, everyday life is mediated by screens, algorithms, and virtual interfaces that privilege sight and sound while quietly sidelining the sense of touch. This book makes a compelling case for why that omission matters. It explores the critical role of sensory stimuli, particularly haptics, in shaping lived experience, with far reaching implications for trust, brand perception, and wellbeing.

Haptics exert a powerful influence on perceptions of experiences, products and consumption as a whole. The power of the sense of touch has been explored in various disciplines, such as psychology and marketing, with a key concept encapsulating the influence of touch stimuli: ‘sensation transference’, a concept first identified by Louis Cheskin.

Cooper applies sensation transference to journalism. By holding content constant while varying only the haptic quality of print, the study reveals how material form influences readers’ perception and willingness to recommend information - underscoring that how content feels can be as consequential as what it says.

Timely, interdisciplinary, and provocative, this book challenges scholars and practitioners alike to rethink the sensory foundations of experience in a world increasingly detached from touch.

Dr Sarah Cooper has worked in academia since 2007, teaching on a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, relating to fashion marketing, fashion writing, and journalism. She has taught in the UK, Hong Kong and Spain, and has worked as a journalist since 1999 in the UK, Australia, Hungary and the UAE. Her research explores sensory consumption, specifically in relation to haptics.