No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
Status and sex: Some touching observations
Abstract
Made a study of touching in public, using a white male student as O, with attention to status variables (sex, race, age, socioeconomic status) and settings. Results support the hypothesis that touch privilege is a correlate of status. The dual nature of touch as a sign of both status and solidarity is compared with R. Brown's 1965 formulation of the similar use of terms of address. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
... Furthermore, there is a body of research showing that the observed initiation of touch frequently leads to a difference in the perceived power/dominance of dyadic interactions (cf. e.g., Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1989;Goffman 1967;Goldberg and Katz 1990;Hall et al. 2005;Henley 1973Henley , 1977Hertenstein et al. 2006;Major 1981;Major and Heslin 1982;Pisano et al. 1986;Summerhayes and Suchner 1978). While there is some agreement about the effect of the initiation of bodily contact, it is still not clear whether reciprocal touch can restore a disturbed power relationship between the two persons involved. ...
... While there is some agreement about the effect of the initiation of bodily contact, it is still not clear whether reciprocal touch can restore a disturbed power relationship between the two persons involved. Some authors argue that reciprocity neutralizes the perceived asymmetry (e.g., Henley 1973), but limited experimental evidence seems to dispute this (Goldberg and Katz 1990). ...
... We hypothesized that the initiator of touch is perceived to express both (H1) a communal intention in the relationship with the other through physical bonding (e.g., Fiske 2004), 1 3 particularly when the touch is informal, and (H2) dominance within that relationship (cf. touch privilege, Henley 1973). Reciprocity, on the other hand, should potentially re-establish an equilibrium and undo the asymmetry of dominance. ...
This research investigated the influence of observed touch on the perceptions of communality and dominance in dyadic interactions. We manipulated four key situational features of haptic behavior in two experiments: the initiation, reciprocity, the degree of formality of touch (Studies 1 and 2), and the context of the interaction (Study 2). The results showed that the default perception of touch, irrespective of whether it is initiated or reciprocated, is the communal intention of the toucher. Furthermore, the initiation of touch was seen as an act of dominance, particularly, when the contact between the actors was primed as being hierarchical. Reciprocation neutralized the perceived asymmetry in dominance, but such inferences seemed to hinge on the fit of the touch with the context: reciprocation of formal touch reduced the asymmetry in the hierarchical context, whereas reciprocation of informal touch reduced the asymmetry in the non-hierarchical context.
... Consistent with these findings, women reported more experiences of physical touch in their day-to-day interactions compared to men [27,28]. While women are often the recipients of touch, men tend to initiate touch especially if the recipient is a woman [29,30]. Moreover, men reported preference with being touched by women than by men [31,32]. ...
... When comparing sex differences, women reported greater touch avoidance with opposite-sex friends more frequently, while males avoided touch with same-sex friends more frequently. These results are in line with previous findings, demonstrating that women are often the recipients of touch, whereas men tend to initiate touch, especially if the recipient is a woman [29,30]. Moreover, men reported preference for being touched by women rather than other men [31,32]. ...
Human contact through physical touch is a core element in social bonding, which facilitates psychosocial well-being. Touch avoidance is an individual disposition that may prevent individuals from engaging in or benefiting from physical touch. The present study recruited 450 Italian participants (51.1% female) with a mean age of 32.2 ± 13.5 to complete a battery of demographic questionnaires and the Touch Avoidance Questionnaire (TAQ). Individuals who were single and reporting same-sex attraction avoided touch with family more often than their coupled counterparts or those reporting opposite-sex attraction. Moreover, males reporting same-sex attraction avoided touch with a potential partner more frequently. When comparing sex differences, women reported greater touch avoidance with opposite-sex friends more frequently, while males avoided touch with same-sex friends more frequently. Individuals reporting opposite-sex attraction reported greater touch amongst same-sex friends. Single males avoided touch with same-sex friends more frequently than those in a relationship. Overall, this contribution reflects the individual differences related to social touch avoidance with respect to sex, relationship status, and sexual orientation in an Italian sample.
... On the other hand, there is reason to believe women may be more physiologically aroused when initiating touch with a male-robot because of the social dynamics of cross-sex touch interactions in HHI. Henley et al. explores the role of power and status in touch and finds that initiators of interpersonal touch are often higher in social status, while recipients of touch tend to be lower in status [62,63]. Henley and Major both found that men initiate touch with women more [59,62]. ...
... Henley et al. explores the role of power and status in touch and finds that initiators of interpersonal touch are often higher in social status, while recipients of touch tend to be lower in status [62,63]. Henley and Major both found that men initiate touch with women more [59,62]. Female-initiated touch goes against this norm, which could play a role in potential increased discomfort and higher physiological arousal experienced by women in female-male robot touch interactions. ...
The growing prevalence of social robots in various fields necessitates a deeper understanding of touch in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). This study investigates how human-initiated touch influences physiological responses during interactions with robots, considering factors such as anthropomorphic framing of robot body parts and attributed gender. Two types of anthropomorphic framings are applied: the use of anatomical body part names and assignment of male or female gender to the robot. Higher physiological arousal was observed when touching less accessible body parts than when touching more accessible body parts in both conditions. Results also indicate that using anatomical names intensifies arousal compared to the control condition. Additionally, touching the male robot resulted in higher arousal in all participants, especially when anatomical body part names were used. This study contributes to the understanding of how anthropomorphic framing and gender impact physiological arousal in touch interactions with social robots, offering valuable insights for social robotics development.
... Además, las mujeres que se tocaban en grupo declararon sentirse mejor que los hombres que se tocaban en grupo. Henley (1973) (Henley, N.M. (1973). Status and sex: Some touching observations. ...
... Además, las mujeres que se tocaban en grupo declararon sentirse mejor que los hombres que se tocaban en grupo. Henley (1973) (Henley, N.M. (1973). Status and sex: Some touching observations. ...
(Versión extensa). Resumen. En "El malestar en la cultura" Freud presenta un conflicto esencial entre la cultura, que impone restricciones a la libertad de acción, y las pulsiones humanas, condicionando la conducta. El instrumento de esta función restrictiva se funda en el derecho, en su capacidad de coacción en tanto determina negativamente que acciones están permitidas al definir que conductas están prohibidas y por tanto sujetas a alguna forma de coerción. Liberada la sexualidad humana de su función reproductiva como consecuencia del desarrollo técnico y científico, la sexualidad vino a asociarse al deseo como impulso al placer, y al placer como razón de ser del deseo. Todas las culturas humanas articulan el deseo velando el sexo. El sexo velado ha determinado que la sexualidad genital reproductiva venga a ser una sexualidad perversa, una sexualidad cuya expresión depende de la expresión social de las diferencias genitales. El ser humano es un sujeto sexuado. El cuerpo humano en toda su configuración celular es un sistema sexuado. El sexo no se manifiesta simplemente en la estructura anatómica de los genitales. Pero tener un sexo u otro no depende de la exposición genital, que está velada para cualquier ser humano en una cultura, sino que deriva de una representación por la que el sujeto viene a conocer el objeto de su deseo. El dilema de la identidad del sujeto consiste en cómo viene a resolver el conflicto entre el deseo y el riesgo que implica desear. La expresión social del sexo es el género; se configura en términos de una dicotomía representacional que nace de un proceso de construcción social de la identidad, configurando al sujeto como un sujeto pasivo o activo, en cualquier caso, como expresión de una conducta orientada hacia la satisfacción de las pulsiones. Esa expresión social no es ajena al sexo, se funda en el sexo porque tiene en el cuerpo un límite de naturaleza instrumental. No es posible una representación desencarnada. El cuerpo determina qué acciones son posibles y qué acciones son imaginarias. De ahí que no sea posible hablar de la identidad de género sin saber como se construye una representación del cuerpo. Es en este contexto que aparece toda clase de conductas deceptivas, la ausencia de libido, la orientación sexual, la autodesignación de género, los trastornos dismórficos, y los delirios autoreferenciales. La disforia de género es un tipo de trastorno dismórfico, entre otros, como la desafección del propio cuerpo, que se expresa en la cirugía satisfactiva y transformativa, la discapacidad autoinducida, los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria, el suicidio y cierto tipo de conductas desviadas. Cualquier forma de expresión social del sexo tiene un límite físico, de naturaleza instrumental, el cuerpo del sujeto. Así la configuración social del género se soporta en la representación del cuerpo, porque no es posible una representación desencarnada. La representación del género necesita un cuerpo en el que se exprese como razón última de qué acciones son posibles y cuáles imaginarias. Este contexto cultural y social plantea cuestiones de una profunda relevancia jurídica, que afecta a los derechos fundamentales de la persona, el derecho a la integridad física y psíquica, el derecho a la autonomía decisional o libertad personal, el derecho a la no discriminación, y el derecho al libre desarrollo de la personalidad, y cuestiones que afectan a la estructura social y en último término al orden público, en una ventana temporal de efectos de las acciones en que se expresan estos derechos, inmediatos y diferidos. La cuestión jurídica fundamental es que tipo de conductas se expresan en actos privados fuera de la esfera de la interacción humana, que actos privados tienen impacto en la interacción humana y tienen un alcance jurídicos, y que actos aparentemente privados afectan a derechos o a bienes jurídicos de terceros. La autodeterminación de género destruye derechos fundamentales del propio sujeto, y destruye las condiciones de posibilidad de las instituciones políticas de discriminación positiva en protección de personas vulnerables y no vulnerables, y destruye la aplicabilidad de las leyes coercitivas que imponen un reproche penal o implican un castigo penal. La autodeterminación de género afecta de manera crítica al principio de seguridad jurídica, a los beneficios y perjuicios que se derivan de aquellas conductas dañosas que afectan a los derechos de terceros, por mor de convertir, de tratar a estos sujetos terceros como un medio u objeto, y no un fin en sí mismo. El derecho puede ignorar las causas de aquellos trastornos mentales que se presentan como conductas irracionales o delirantes, pero solo en tanto en cuanto no afectan a derechos y bienes jurídicos de terceros. El sujeto requiere una protección que no pueda quedar al albur de una manipulación externa a su conducta, en una expresión de aquiesciencia que solo puede presentarse como dependencia patológica en estado de necesidad.
... Many years of research have shown differences in the amount of touching in interpersonal interactions, differences in touch initiation, where on the human body the touching occurred, etc. The findings are not consistent and the differences have been described as due to the context (e.g., [48]), culture (e.g., [13]), dominance and status (e.g., [49]), belonging to a certain gender (e.g., [49,50]), age group (e.g., [51]), and relationship [52]. ...
... Many years of research have shown differences in the amount of touching in interpersonal interactions, differences in touch initiation, where on the human body the touching occurred, etc. The findings are not consistent and the differences have been described as due to the context (e.g., [48]), culture (e.g., [13]), dominance and status (e.g., [49]), belonging to a certain gender (e.g., [49,50]), age group (e.g., [51]), and relationship [52]. ...
Social robots are expected gradually to be used by more and more people in a wider range of settings, domestic as well as professional. As a consequence, the features and quality requirements on human–robot interaction will increase, comprising possibilities to communicate emotions, establishing a positive user experience, e.g., using touch. In this paper, the focus is on depicting how humans, as the users of robots, experience tactile emotional communication with the Nao Robot, as well as identifying aspects affecting the experience and touch behavior. A qualitative investigation was conducted as part of a larger experiment. The major findings consist of 15 different aspects that vary along one or more dimensions and how those influence the four dimensions of user experience that are present in the study, as well as the different parts of touch behavior of conveying emotions.
... A number of studies was realized assessing the nonverbal cues of leadership in organizations. These studies showed that leaders were associated with enhanced facial expression, body openness, more prerogatives to touch, smaller interpersonal distance and increased gaze while speaking [4,6,20]. Eye gaze and proximity were specifically associated with emerging leader [3,20]. ...
... This cue is present in many couple dances where the leader physically guide the follower's movements by applying pressure on the follower's back or arms. In non-dance context, people with high-status have more prerogative to touch people with lower status than reciprocally [6]. This suggests that leaders are more likely to initiate touch and carry their intention toward the followers. ...
In this paper, we propose a set of algorithms to compute the cues of the nonverbal leadership in an unstructured joint full-body physical activity, i.e., the joint activity of two or more interacting persons who perform some movements without a predefined sequence and without a predefined leader. An example of such activity can be a contact dance improvisation.
The paper is composed of three parts: cue set, dataset and algorithms. First, we propose a cue set of nonverbal leadership which is grounded on existing literature and studies. It is composed of eight cues that characterize the nonverbal behaviors of the leader in a joint full-body physical activity.
In this paper we also introduce a new dataset. It consists of multimodal data (video, MoCap) of contact dance improvisations. Additionally, sensory deprivation conditions (vision and/or touch restraint) were introduced to collect the evidences of the various strategies used by leaders and followers during improvisation. The dataset was annotated by twenty-seven persons who carried out continuous annotation of leadership in the recorded material.
In the last part of the paper, we propose a set of algorithms that works on positional 3D data (i.e., joints' positions obtained from motion capture data of dancers). Each algorithm models one among the discussed cues of the nonverbal leadership.
... Berkowitz (1971) demonstrated that children are more likely to be in tactile communication than adults or adolescents. However, research on adults showed that in different settings, the older member of a dyad initiated touch more often than the younger one (Henley, 1973;Heslin & Boss, 1980). Acceptable and expected touch communication varies considerably depending on the country. ...
... However, when college students (Willis, Rinck & Dean, 1978) or adults (Daniels, 1978) were observed, this relation reversed, with more touching observed among opposite-sex than same-sex dyads. Henley (1973) proposed a gender asymmetry hypothesis regarding the initiation of touch, which identified men as primary touch initiators. She studied intentional tactile communication, and observed that young men touch young women significantly more often than vice versa. ...
The aim of this research was to explore the use of tactile communication in daily interactions with friends and parents. The participants were 429 students. The questionnaire consisted of: behavioral measures ; touch-attitude scale ; well-being ; internet use ; and demographic variables. Females showed more positive touch-attitudes, reported more touch behaviors in communication with same sex peers and parents, and reported more confidential talks with both friends and parents. Males and females did not differ regarding the use of touch in communication with the opposite sex. Participants used more tactile behavior in communication with parents than with friends. Those who used tactile communication more with parents, also reported more tactile communication with friends, and more confidential talks with both friends and parents, and rated higher the importance of the Internet in communication. Students with high levels of well-being showed more positive touch-attitudes, reported more tactile communication with both friends and parents and reported more confidential talks with friends.
... The latter might indeed reflect a display of power rather than affection. Correspondingly, based on Henley's (1973) theory on dominance through touch, several studies showed that unreciprocated touch communicates dominance (e.g., Goldberg & Katz, 1990;Hall et al., 2005;Summerhayes & Suchner, 1978). To our knowledge, this is the first study to show such processes in romantic relationships. ...
Crucial for human development and functioning, affectionate touch predicts well-being. However, most research on affectionate touch in romantic relationship is conducted with samples in high quality relationships and relies on quantitative methods. We thus know little to nothing about how touch is experienced in low-quality relationships, namely those characterized by intimate partner violence (IPV). To fill this gap, victims of physical and/or sexual IPV who had received psychological support at one association supporting victims of IPV were invited to participate in the present study. The thematic analysis conducted upon the qualitative data revealed five main themes: (1) the definition of identity by touch, (2) the presence of “undesired” touch, (3) the absence of “desired” touch, (4) the memories and flashbacks triggered by touch, and (5) the self-reconstruction allowed by touch. Analyses are discussed in terms of their link with previous research on affectionate touch and on interpersonal violence. The results suggest that this constitute a meaningful topic of investigation to be further analyzed, as well as a possible therapeutic channel.
... Even though men seem to value tactile cues more than women in the context of premate choice (Herz and Cahill, 1997) another study on men and women showed that various emotions, including love, can be detected by being touched by an unknown person (Hertenstein et al., 2009) and affective touch is important for both genders to form stable and secure relationships (Suvilehto et al., 2015;Krahé et al., 2018). Early studies hint that women were more likely to receive touch from men while men tended to initiate touch towards the opposite sex (Henley, 1973;Stier and Hall, 1984;Moore, 1985;Major et al., 1990;Hall, 1996). Women were more prone to same-sex touch (Stier and Hall, 1984) and not proactive in touching men; a finding that may be explained with men overinterpreting women signals in a mating context, and this has been in particular clear for touch (Struckman-Johnson and Struckman-Johnson, 1993). ...
Mate choice is a potent generator of diversity and a fundamental pillar for sexual selection and evolution. Mate choice is a multistage affair, where complex sensory information and elaborate actions are used to identify, scrutinize, and evaluate potential mating partners. While widely accepted that communication during mate assessment relies on multimodal cues, most studies investigating the mechanisms controlling this fundamental behavior have restricted their focus to the dominant sensory modality used by the species under examination, such as vision in humans and smell in rodents. However, despite their undeniable importance for the initial recognition, attraction, and approach towards a potential mate, other modalities gain relevance as the interaction progresses, amongst which are touch and audition. In this review, we will: (1) focus on recent findings of how touch and audition can contribute to the evaluation and choice of mating partners, and (2) outline our current knowledge regarding the neuronal circuits processing touch and audition (amongst others) in the context of mate choice and ask (3) how these neural circuits are connected to areas that have been studied in the light of multisensory integration.
... Despite early research suggesting a relationship between emotion and touch (Clynes, 1977), research on touch has been mostly focused on its use as a function of intimacy (Burgoon, 1991;McDaniel and Andersen, 1998) and as a cue to relative power. The latter is based on Henley's (1973) notion of a touch privilege for individuals higher in power. However, the findings in that regard remained mixed. ...
Nonverbal behavior plays an important role for the communication of states such as emotions as well as in first impressions. The present article discusses models of nonverbal communication and then summarizes findings with regard to the nonverbal communication of emotions, via the face, voice, posture, touch and gaze. A second section describes some newer research on dyadic synchronization and a final section discusses nonverbal cues in the context of first impressions. A point is made that nonverbal behavior is embedded in a social and cultural context, which forms both the behavior and its interpretation.
... Findings revealed that females were more accurate when the actor was also a female compared to when the actor was a male 69 . Moreover, we chose to display videos showing only males delivering touch and females receiving touch as generally males appear to initiate touch more than females do 70,71 . Furthermore, previous research has found that touch given from an individual of the same sex is generally perceived as less pleasant, compared to touch from an individual of the opposite sex 72 . ...
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating pathology characterized by restricted eating, body image distortions and impaired socio-cognitive abilities. Altered responses to affective touch-a pleasant interoceptive stimulus hypothesised to involve activation of the C-Tactile (CT) system, may contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of this disorder. Here, we investigated whether third-party social touch vicarious ratings of different body sites at CT-optimal vs. non-CT optimal velocities differed in women with and recovered from AN (RAN) and healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-five HCs, 27 AN and 29 RAN provided pleasantness ratings for two different tasks designed to probe expectations of how touch is perceived by self (self-directed touch) vs. others (other-directed touch). Findings revealed that both clinical groups, compared to HCs, did not differ in their pleasantness ratings to touch for another but when evaluating touch for self, both clinical groups rated CT-optimal touch as less pleasant than HCs. These findings suggest that AN and RAN women demonstrate an atypical vicarious pleasantness response to affective touch involving self, but not others. Novel therapeutic approaches that help anorexics to better interpret or improve tolerance of affective tactile experiences involving the self may be an important addition to current standard treatments.
... Se spune despre Nicolae Ceaușescu că nu suporta să fie atins de cei din anturajul lui. Nancy M. Henley (1972), profesoară de psihologie la University of California, un nume de referință în analiza comunicării verbale și nonverbale, remarca faptul că nonreciprocitatea atingerilor în relațiile bărbat-femeie reflectă diferența de status: persoanele cu status social superior au dreptul la atingerea cutanată a persoanelor cu status social inferior. Contactul corporal, ca tip de comunicare nonverbală, poate fi privit ca un echivalent al adresării verbale: membrii "claselor superioare" și persoanele cu status social înalt pot să se adreseze celor din clasele "inferioare" chemându-i după prenume; persoanele din clasele de jos trebuie să se adreseze celor din clasele de sus pronunțându-le numele de familie și, după caz, rangul sau profesia. ...
... This choice was made because only females were recruited in the current investigation and we wanted to avoid any confound due to using different genders receiving touch, to those observing this touch. Moreover, we chose to display videos showing only males delivering touch and females receiving touch as generally males appear to initiate touch more than females do [67,68]. All videos were taken from a database of previously standardised video clips [66]. ...
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is an eating pathology characterized by restricted eating, body image distortions and impaired socio-cognitive abilities. Altered responses to affective touch − a pleasant interoceptive stimulus hypothesised to involve activation of the C-Tactile (CT) system, may contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of this disorder. Here, we investigated whether third-party social touch vicarious ratings of different body sites at CT-optimal vs. non-CT optimal velocities differed in women with and recovered from AN (RAN) and healthy controls (HCs). Thirty-five HCs, 27 AN and 29 RAN provided pleasantness ratings for two different tasks designed to probe expectations of how touch is perceived by self (self-directed touch) vs. others (other-directed touch). Findings revealed that both clinical groups, compared to HCs, did not differ in their pleasantness ratings to touch for another but when evaluating touch for self, both clinical groups rated CT-optimal touch as less pleasant than HCs. These findings suggest that AN and RAN women demonstrate an atypical vicarious pleasantness response to affective touch involving self, but not others. Therefore, as atypical responses persist even after recovery, treatment interventions should focus on overcoming an impairment in differentiating between self and other affective touch experience, which could help prevent post-recovery relapsing.
... Based on this argument, it seems likely that male-male dyads express recognition of equality when hugging. Touching prevalence in public has been previously linked to gender-dependent power relations by Henley (1973), a suggestion which has raised controversy (e.g. Stier & Hall, 1984). ...
Hugging is one of the most common types of affective touch encountered in everyday life. However, little is known about the factors that influence hugging evaluation and behaviour. Here, we aimed to assess how different hugs would be evaluated and whether they can affect mood. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate what kind of arm crossing is common in a naturalistic setting and whether arm crossing style could be predicted from gender, emotional closeness, and the height difference of huggers. We conducted two studies addressing these questions. In study 1, participants hugged a confederate for 1 second (s), 5 s or 10 s with two different arm crossing styles and reported how pleasant, arousing and under control the touch felt. Additionally, participants were asked about their mood (“self-ratings”) immediately after, 3 minutes (min) after and 6 min after each hug. In study 2, participants were approached on campus and asked to share a hug, with arm crossing style being the dependent variable. The height difference, gender and self-rated emotional closeness to the hug partner were recorded as possible predictors for arm crossing style. Results from study 1 indicate that duration matters more than arm crossing style for hug pleasure, arousal, and control, with 1 s hugs being rated as least pleasant and under control than 5 s and 10 s hugs. Accordingly, 1 s hugs also resulted in lower pleasure self-ratings immediately post hug than 5 s and 10 s hugs. Arousal self-ratings were higher immediately post hug than several minutes after a hug. In study 2, gender was linked to arm crossing style, with male-male hug dyads exhibiting a different hugging style from female-female dyads. These findings are discussed in relation to previous hug research and gender differences in touch behaviour.
... Overall, it is necessary to consider that touch behavior has been noted to include different patterns in public vs. non-public settings (Gladney and Barker, 1979;Henley, 1973;Major et al., 1990), with majority of touches occurring in private settings (especially in more intimate body areas) (F. N. Willis and Rinck, 1983). ...
Social touch is increasingly utilized in a variety of psychological interventions, ranging from parent-child interventions to psychotherapeutic treatments. Less attention has been paid, however, to findings that exposure to social touch may not necessarily evoke positive or pleasant responses. Social touch can convey different emotions from love and gratitude to harassment and envy, and persons’ preferences to touch and be touched do not necessarily match with each other. This review of altogether 99 original studies focuses on how contextual factors modify target person’s behavioral and brain responses to social touch. The review shows that experience of social touch is strongly modified by a variety of toucher-related and situational factors: for example, toucher’s facial expressions, physical attractiveness, relationship status, group membership, and touched person’s psychological distress. At the neural level, contextual factors modify processing of social touch from early perceptual processing to reflective cognitive evaluation. Based on the review, we present implications for using social touch in behavioral and neuroscientific research designs.
... Women generally prefer touch from persons whom they know very well, whereas men prefer to be touched by women and less so by other men (Heslin et al., 1983). One older theory proposes the explanation that touching is a privilege of a person of higher status or power, and men are more often than women in the position of power (Henley, 1973;however, see Jones, 1986, for a controversial discussion). In line with the previous findings, we predict that women should exhibit more diverse affective touch behaviors than should men. ...
Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch.
... The latter might be supported by our finding that in contrast to young adult females, in males, smile dimensions had an undetectable effect on self-perceived smile attractiveness. There are numerous social and cultural causes for women being more conscious of their objective smile characteristics, since they are often expected to be friendlier and more emotionally expressive than men [39][40][41] . In addition, smiling frequency and intensity has been associated to hormonal changes during physical development; high testosterone levels, for example, have an inhibitory role in social smiling 42,43 . ...
Facial expressions play a leading role in human interactions because they provide signaling information of emotion and create social perceptions of an individuals’ physical and personality traits. Smiling increases socially perceived attractiveness and is considered a signal of trustworthiness and intelligence. Despite the ample information regarding the social importance of an attractive smile, little is known about the association between smile characteristics and self-assessed smile attractiveness. Here we investigate the effect of smile dimensions on ratings of self-perceived smile attractiveness, in a group of 613 young adults using 3D facial imaging. We show a significant effect of proportional smile width (ratio of smile width to facial width) on self-perceived smile attractiveness. In fact, for every 10% increase in proportional smile width, self-perceived attractiveness ratings increased by 10.26%. In the present sample, this association was primarily evident in females. Our results indicate that objective characteristics of the smile influence self-perception of smile attractiveness. The increased strength of the effect in females provides support to the notion that females are overall more aware of their smile and the impact it has on their public image.
... Specifically, we hypothesize that those lower in SES experience will touch less frequently than their more advantaged counterparts. Communication research is somewhat outdated on socioeconomic patterns of touch (e.g., Henley, 1973), so we rely on social networks and support literature to inform our hypotheses. In that vein, several studies from the United States suggest that older adults with low education and income report the least social support from spouses, partners, and friends (Fischer & Beresford, 2015), and experience disproportionate instability in their close social networks (B. ...
Touch is an important element of human social interaction linked to various dimensions of well-being, but we know little of how it is distributed among older adults. This study considers whether greeting/affectionate touch is a function of characteristics such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Data come from Wave 1 (2005–2006) of the NSHAP study from the United States. Results reveal that women experienced more frequent touch relative to men, net of several features of the interpersonal environment. Mediation analyses revealed that gender differences in associations with touch were partially explained by women’s greater participation in formal and informal social activity. No patterns were detected related to race, education, or wealth. This study situates greeting/affectionate touch as a form of corporeal non-verbal interaction that offers a unique lens into patterns of social connection. We close by considering what this form of interaction means in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
... Touch behaviour, essential in social interactions, is also subject to gender norms. Henley [7] observed that men initiate one-way touch more frequently than women, which reflects masculine control and dominance (e.g. the supervisor touching the shoulder of his secretary). Moreover, men feel uncomfortable being touched by another man and avoid same-gender touch, which is associated with male homophobia [8,9]. ...
Traditional gender roles that define what is feminine and masculine also imply that men have higher social status than women. These stereotypes still influence how people interact with each other and with computers. Touch behaviour, essential in social interactions, is an interesting example of such social behaviours. The Midas touch effect describes a situation when a brief touch is used to influence one's behaviour. Our study aimed to analyse the influence of virtual touch on compliance in men in a decision-making game called Ultimatum. In a series of three studies, we investigated whether social cues such as gender, stereotypical masculine/feminine appearance, and high/low social status modify compliance to offers from embodied agents. We built an immersive version of a repeated Ultimatum game in which a proposer offers how to split ten coins, and a responder accepts or rejects the offer. In study 1, men and women played with a female and a male agent. In study 2 and 3, men played with four agents each, differing in gender and levels of stereotypically seen masculinity and social status. There was no significant touch effect. Compliance was secured mostly by the value of the offer: the more generous the offer, the higher the compliance rate. We also found evidence for the perceived masculinity and social status influence. We also describe relationships between agents' characteristics and the perception of their touch. The results are discussed in the context of social characteristics that are important in agent design and the effectiveness of social influence techniques in virtual reality.
... Grâce à une étude ethnographique fondée sur l'observation dans les espaces publics, Nancy Henley (1973) s'est penchée sur les droits au toucher (entendu comme un geste intentionnel de la main) dans les interactions dyadiques entre hommes et femmes, dans les espaces publics, en plein air. Selon cette chercheuse, le toucher est une des pratiques au travers desquelles plusieurs formes d'asymétrie sociale se donnent à voir et s'exercent : les hommes initient le toucher sur les femmes d'une façon plus importante que l'inverse en raison de la place occupée par les hommes dans notre société. ...
Drawing from a multiplicity of contexts (drag king workshops, consciousness raising groups and artistic performances), I will analyze how touching practices are mobilized and interpreted by social actors as gender (de)construction devices. The issues presented in this paper are both theoretical and analytical. I will propose a theoretical dialogue between two antagonistic traditions in feminism, neo-materialism and postmodernism, and gender, language and sexuality studies around the possible intertwinings between discourse and bodily materiality. I will show how a multimodal approach to gender takes into account what I call a poetic and a politics of tactile experience exceeding the temporality and the spatiality of interactions and to think about gender through the lens of sensoriality, experience and imagination.
... For instance, action direction and agent positioning (e.g., from right to left/from bottom to top or viceversa) communicate specific meanings associated with the agency, power and status (Carnaghi, Piccoli, Brambilla & Bianchi, 2014;Paladino, Mazzurega & Bonfiglioli, 2017) of the toucher and the touched individuals. Also, Henley (1973) showed that touching is linked to status (i.e., in terms of sex, age, and socioeconomic status relations), with higher-status people initiating more touch over lower-status persons and not the reverse pattern. In line with this rationale, further studies demonstrated that the toucher is often seen as more dominant and of high status compared to the receiver (Major & Heslin, 1982). ...
Individuals possess an innate capacity to communicate and understand non-verbal cues (i.e., touch). In addition, touch affects individuals at the intrapersonal level (e.g., physiological reactions) and at the interpersonal level (e.g., impression formation, pro-social behavior). Recent studies testify to the effects of touch also at the intergroup level (e.g., improvement of outgroup attitudes). The present review will discuss the effects of touch on a wide range of situations, and differently from past reviews, special attention will be given to the effects of touch (also in its indirect form, i.e., imagined physical contact) at the intergroup level
... In accord with these speculations, women who spent more time canting their heads were seen as more interested in the interviewer and more sexually provocative. Head canting also has been conjectured to communicate submissiveness (Key, 1975;Morris, 1977), ingratiation (Goffinan, 1976), or appeasement (Goffinan, 1979), attributes that reflect the less powerful position that women have traditionally held in society (Henley, 1973(Henley, , 1977. However, head canting was not associated with perceptions ofless social engagement or less dominance in women. ...
... These include: culture, relationship, and immediate temporal circumstances. Henley pioneered the study of gender effects on touch by observing physical contact among individuals in public places [19,20]. She showed that men initiate touch with women (MF) more often than vice versa (FM), and that such asymmetry is due to a status difference. ...
Touch is a contextual medium for affect conveyance. It is difficult to assign specific meanings to each instance of touch in isolation. However, when engaged within context, touch becomes a powerful and indispensable means for humans to convey feelings of love, concern, and sympathy. This paper explores how remote touch may influence one's affective experience of music, and how this experience is dependent on the relationship between the originator and recipient of the touch. For our study, we designed: (1) A mediated touch system that provides kinesthetic touches through an armband device that is controlled by changes in force applied to an input device, and (2) A touch-media system by which one can record and playback a co-temporal stream of touches with a track of music. We examined: (1) How remote touch may influence a touch recipient's experience of the music, and (2) how the recipients' affective experiences may depend on whether the touch is believed to be generated by intimates (familiar touch) versus by a music performer as part of a performance (unfamiliar touch)? Our study's results revealed that there is a significant correlation between the conditions (familiar, unfamiliar, and no touches) and song types (happy, sad) in both positive and negative affective experiences.
... Some of these ideas trickled into psychology. Pioneering studies by Nancy Henley (1973Henley ( , 1977 demonstrated, for example, that males had the -privilege‖ of touching women or invading their personal space without females being able to reciprocate. Other early studies explored interpersonal mechanisms that limited women's power. ...
The purpose of this paper is to examine epistemological connections between
the words used by psychologists, the way words influence what methodology we use, and
how methods influence our beliefs about causality and construct phenomena regarded as
psychological "facts." These processes are considered in terms of a personal and
historical perspective gained from nearly forty years of studying the psychology of women
and gender. This paper focuses the history of the distinction between "sex" and "gender"
and the continued attention of researchers to the question of whether sex/gender
differences exist. It argues that the issue continues to be researched because of the
relative absence of socio-structural variables such as status and power from most
psychological discourse and the current empirical focus of many feminist psychologists in
the United States. I also argue that lack of attention to epistemology and to the
connection between politics and scholarship has led to a definition of the psychology of
women and/or gender that no longer attends to feminist theory and to a decline in
socially activist scholarship. Women and men cannot be studied in isolation from other
social constructions such as race/ethnicity, social class, sexual diversity, and cultural
difference. Such synthesis will be difficult without a return to concerns about
epistemology and question generation that are rarely addressed in U. S. feminist
psychology today.
... Previous studies on interpersonal touch show that it enhances such intimacy as social bonding or trust between people or groups (Henley, 1973). For instance, social touch enhances the performance of basketball teams by building cooperation (Kraus, Huang, & Keltner, 2010). ...
Poor listening ability is a serious problem for pupils who suffer from a wide range of developmental disabilities. Although recent advances in technology provide such pupils with supportive systems that improve educational acoustic environments, they do not support their mental stress while they are listening in classrooms. Our current study proposes a huggable communication medium to reduce mental stress of listeners in addition to preparing a better acoustic environment. We investigated its impact on pupils with special needs and long-term use. Special needs pupils listened to their teachers or classmates in a general listening situation and in another situation where they listened through a huggable communication medium called Hugvie for three months. We used a memory test to evaluate listening performances and questionnaires about “intention to use” to evaluate acceptance to Hugvie for long-term use. The results showed that listening through Hugvies improved the scores of memory tests about information provided by teachers. In particular, the scores of distracted pupils with emotional problems tended to greatly improve. The improvement of their memory test scores continued for three months. The pupils' impressions of Hugvies also indicated their preference for long-term use. These findings suggest that a huggable communication medium can support the classroom listening of special needs pupils in their daily school life.
... Goffman (1967) and Montagu (1971) reveal non-verbal messages are communicated between persons based on touch. This communication is extended to a third party, the viewer, as found by Henley (1973) and Summerhayes and Suchner (1978). ...
This study adds visual analysis to the body of work on solutions journalism. Guided by visual theory focusing on the dominating nature of messages included in visual content versus text, we use content analysis to explore the use of photos in solutions-oriented news stories, specifically to see whether the photos published alongside solutions-based news stories also represent solutions or whether they portray an incongruent message. Among our results, we found photos reflect the solution depicted in the story only 63.5 percent of the time. Photos taken by an internal source (e.g. staff photographer) are more likely to depict the solution than if obtained by an external source (e.g. wire service). In addition, the higher the emotional appeal and positive emotion found in the photo, the higher the likelihood that the photo reflects a solution. A contradictory visual may complicate the message of the solutions in the story. Our findings suggest more emphasis must be placed on the study of visuals as they relate to solutions journalism, and on the selection of photos to accompany solutions-oriented stories.
... TAC-1 and TAC-2 are participants who scored highly in touch receptiveness and expressiveness; whereas, TAC-3 and TAC-4 are the participants who had lower scores in touch responsiveness. Finally, based on previous research who showed that females are more expressive and receptive in tactile communication (Henley 1973), we compare gender differences (7 males and 9 females) using a t-test that shows significant difference [t (14) = 0.78, p = 0.035] between the mean score for males (M = 56.85, SD = 6.81) as opposed to females (M = 59, SD = 4). ...
In this article, effectiveness of air jet stimulation in mediated emotional communication was investigated by assessing cross-modal influences of visual emotional expressions on tactile perception. Brain responses to combined visual faces and air jet stimuli were measured using event-related potentials; whereas, emotional responses were assessed using self-reported pleasantness of the tactile stimulation. ERP results reveal significant differences between the different facial expressions for the same tactile air-jet intensity in the somatosensory area. Moreover, participants’ pleasantness ratings suggest an effect of the visual stimulus on the difference tactile conditions that correspond to air jet stimulation intensities: low, medium, and high. These promising results provide evidence in the potential efficiency of this stimulation technique in activating skin receptors that play an important role in social and affective behaviors.
... Research carried out by Henley (1973) suggest that in public places men more likely to initiate touching in conversations than female; it was interpreted to mean that touching was symbolic of the male's need to control and dominate. This essentially highlights the importance of cultural and historical bases in the initiation and progression of social interaction. ...
Humans are social and diversely interactive beings. As a result, there is the frequent practice of touching during the conversation. The purpose of the study was to investigate touching behaviour in conversational dyads. The specific aim was to acquire data about the frequency of touches during a conversation between the three sets of dyads (female-female, male-male and female-male). Touches were divided as hand touches (e.g. hand to hand, hand to face, hand to leg, hand to shoulder, etc.) and body touches (e.g. body to body, kissing and hugging). A one-way ANOVA was performed for both hand and body touches. For hand touches, it was found that there was a significant degree of differences between the groups, F(2, 162) = 13.31, p < 0.0005. There were also significant differences for body touches, F(2, 162) = 15.31, p < 0.0005. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey's test revealed that male-male dyads showed significantly fewer hand touches than female-female dyads or mixed dyads, but female-female dyads did not differ significantly from the mixed dyads. Overall, both male-male and female-female dyads had significantly fewer body touches than male-female dyads. The findings of research has shed much light on understanding the dynamics of social life. Other factors must be considered to derive an accurate understanding and explanation of the underlying bases of touching behaviour. Also, the many faults and limitations of the study highlight useful measures that are necessary for future research to enhance reliability and validity of the findings.
... The study of sex differences in social touching behavior was brought to light by Henley (1973) who found that in public places, men initiated touch with women more than women initiated it with men, and attributed public touching largely to a need to display control and dominance. This research instigated further study in the variable of maintaining social status in interaction, but has been recently criticized by those testing the dominance theory in cross-cultural research. ...
Explores the personal and educational experience of a student studying abroad in China with the University of Hawaii and Peking University.
... Despite early research suggesting a relationship between emotion and touch (Clynes 1977), research on touch has been mostly focused on its use as a function of intimacy (Burgoon 1991;McDaniel and Andersen 1998) and as a cue to relative power. The latter is based on Henley's (1973) notion of a touch privilege for individuals higher in power. However, the findings in that regard remained mixed; even though there is some evidence for differences in touching between men and women, these differences are not systematically related to power or status differences (Hall 1996;Hall and Veccia 1990). ...
... Beröring är en annan faktor som kan signalera hög status. Enligt Henley (1973) är det till och med så att initiera beröring är ett "privilegium" som endast kan åtnjutas av hög-status personer. (Bryman, 2008). ...
(In Swedish). Syftet med denna studie har varit att söka svar på polisaspiranters subjektiva upplevelser av hur deras icke verbala kommunikation fungerat under deras praktikperiod, den så kallade aspiranten, detta i syfte att utveckla undervisningen inom ämnet. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats, där semi-strukturerade intervjuer använts för att söka svar på dessa frågor. Studien visade att aspiranterna under såväl skoltid som under sin aspirant upplevde att de fått lite eller ingen feedback på sin icke-verbala kommunikation av kollegor och lärare. Lärandet har istället i hög grad skett genom att observera mer erfarna kollegor som aspiranterna själva upplevt varit kompetenta kommunikatörer ur ett icke-verbalt perspektiv. Studien har vidare visat att liten vikt fästs vid icke-verbal kommunikation i det studiematerial som finns tillgängligt inom svensk polis, något som försvårat aspiranternas möjlighet att problematisera och reflektera kring icke-verbal kommunikation, samt att mycket av den kunskap som finns inom ämnet är implicit och finns på individnivå. Ytterligare en faktor som försvårat aspiranternas utveckling inom ämnet har varit avsaknaden av en gemensam nomenklatur inom svensk polis vad gäller icke-verbal kommunikation. Samtliga aspiranter som intervjuats framhävde den egna förmågan att med icke-verbal kommunikation visa empati och knyta kontakter som en styrka, medan merparten av aspiranterna upplevde att förmågan att visa hög status eller dominans som en brist. Sammanfattningsvis kan sägas att trots att forskningen visar att polisyrket ställer stora krav på individen att vara en flexibel och kompetent kommunikatör och att det icke-verbala står för en stor del av vår kommunikation, så förefaller det finnas ett behov av att utveckla utbildningen vad den icke-verbala kommunikationen inom svensk polis.
There appears to be no attempt to categorize the specific classes of behavior that the tactile system underpins. Awareness of how an organism uses touch in their environment informs understanding of its versatility in non-verbal communication and tactile perception. This review categorizes the behavioral functions underpinned by the tactile sense, by using three sources of data: (1) Animal data, to assess if an identified function is conserved across species; (2) Human capacity data, indicating whether the tactile sense can support a proposed function; and (3) Human impaired data, documenting the impacts of impaired tactile functioning (e.g., reduced tactile sensitivity) for humans. From these data, three main functions pertinent to the tactile sense were identified: Ingestive Behavior; Environmental Hazard Detection and Management; and Social Communication. These functions are reviewed in detail and future directions are discussed with focus on social psychology, non-verbal behavior and multisensory perception.
This study qualitatively explores the understanding and need for social touch in cognitive communication. The empirical data are collected from a sample of 17 young unmarried females of 18 to 24 years through in-depth interviews. Six main themes are identified: meaning, touch need, accessibility, factors shaping touch expression, social agents of touch, and impacts of touch deprivation. The result indicates that the cultural traditions and religious narratives have significantly affected the perceptions of females in such a way that they do not realize their touch needs. This arouses concerns and points toward a prediction that it will not take much longer to see its ill effects on the general population. The findings of the study are significant to healthcare professionals and educationists to carry out focused campaigns and timely interventions. The study has resulted in both theoretical contributions to prosocial behavior literature and is a valuable addition to social touch research.
In diagnostic, therapeutic, and nursing contexts, touch is a prerequisite for successful treatment. Compared to other everyday touches, these touches represent exceptional situations in the lives of both patients and the professionals performing the touches.
Social touches can be distinguished from necessary touches that serve a medical or nursing purpose. These social touches, which often occur spontaneously, fulfill social or emotional functions and can have a calming, comforting, or stress-reducing effect. It is possible to use social touches specifically for these effects in medical and nursing contexts.
The chapter informs about emotional, social, and ethical aspects of touch, placebo effects through touch, embodiment effects, effects of pets and animal-assisted therapy, and the effects of loneliness and touch deprivation on health.
Kapitel enthält: emotionale, soziale und ethische Aspekte von Berührungen; Placeboeffekte; Embodiment; Haus- und Therapietiere; Einsamkeit. - Abstract: Im medizinischen Kontext können von erforderlichen Berührungen, die einem medizinischen oder pflegerischen Zweck dienen, soziale Berührungen unterschieden werden. Diese, oft spontan auftretenden Berührungen, erfüllen soziale oder emotionale Funktionen. Soziale Berührungen können beruhigend, tröstend, angst-, schmerz- oder stressreduzierend wirken. Es besteht somit die Möglichkeit, soziale Berührungen im medizinischen oder pflegerischen Kontext gezielt zu diesen Zwecken einzusetzen.
Research has been accumulating for well over a half-century on the physical, psychological, and emotional consequences of touch and touch deprivation. Some of these studies focus on the universal need for touch, while others explore various social factors, such as the ritualized use of touch and the impact of culture, gender, and personality on first impressions and interpersonal influence. In this chapter, we examine the primary functions of touch in social interaction, and especially how touch between people constitutes an expression of intimacy and affection. In doing so, we highlight how these expressions originate from both biological and social processes. We also address the relative absence of interpersonal touch in the new age of social media. Moreover, as the world continues to cope with a global pandemic, opportunities for physical contact as a means of communicating love and affection have become painfully limited, heightening the need for continued investigation into how people are coping with the loss of touch and the success of alternative modes of communication.
Speech delivery pedagogy has both changed dramatically over the last several centuries and remained remarkably fixed over the last 100 years. In the early 1900s, this pedagogy underwent a dramatic shift from an “elocutionist approach” to a “natural approach” to speech delivery. Since that time, speech delivery pedagogy has remained in an essentially petrified state while our understanding of nonverbal behaviors – the very behaviors at the heart of speech delivery – has grown exponentially. In this essay, we draw upon the expansive nonverbal communication literature to argue for a new approach to teaching speech delivery – an approach we refer to as the interconnected approach. This interconnected approach re-emphasizes the importance of speech delivery, structures the topic of speech delivery around coherent nonverbal clusters, and acknowledges the unnatural pathway to developing a natural speech delivery.
The purpose is to analyze the influence of gender on touching behaviour in a mixed dyad within romantic media discourse. The comparative study demonstrates new insights into gender-neutral and gender-specific touch cues initiated by strangers in face-to-face romantic encounters. Methods. A hybrid approach (inductive and deductive) to thematic analysis was used to interpret codes of nonverbal immediacy cues. The thematic analysis covered six stages of the coding process resulted in deriving a codebook. Qualitative interactive sociolinguistic and quantitative analyses, as well as a method of statistical evaluation of hypotheses (Pearson’s chi-square test), were used to reveal the statistical evidence for touch cues functioning.Results. The sample consisted of 24 groups of touching behaviour, which included 557 feminine and 302 masculine touch cues. The identified nonverbal cues were grouped according to the focus of the object: self-focused (eight groups) and other person focused (sixteen groups). According to the results of the study, the expected gender differences were partially supported, considering the extent of the effect size. Gender-neutral touching behaviour includes eleven groups: four groups of self-focused (clothes straightening, holding hands in front of one’s body, hair grooming, holding hands behind one’s back) and seven groups of other person focused (hugs, hand-in-hand, handshake, kiss on the cheek, clap, dancing, arm link). Thirteen groups of touching behaviour were found to be gender-specific: four self-focused (clap – initiated only by men; hand(s) on the heart, face covering, lower lip biting – initiated only by women) and nine other person focused (hand kiss, lifting up a woman, selfie – initiated only by men; conversely, caress, kiss on lips, couple rubbing noses, shoulder massage, feeding a partner with one’s fingers, jumping into partner’s arms – initiated only by women).Conclusions. Comparative analysis of touching behaviour revealed that women tended to communicate the immediacy through hand-in-hand (φ = 0.35), hair grooming (φ = 0.28), hugs (φ = 0.23), holding hands in front of one’s body (φ = 0.18), pat (φ = 0.12), hand(s) on the heart, and face covering; while men were predisposed to use clothes straightening (φ = 0.1) and hand kiss; handshake and kiss on the cheek were initiated similarly by both genders. The obtained data are a prerequisite for further analysis of nonverbal behaviour initiated by opposite-sex strangers in the contemporary media dating context.Key words: nonverbal communication, face-to-face encounters, initiating romantic relationship, media context, dating culture, reality dating show, interpersonal interaction. Мета. Метою статті є аналіз впливу ґендеру на тактильну поведінку у змішаній діаді в рамках сучасного романтичного медіадискурсу на етапі ініціації романтичних відносин. Порівняльне дослідження демонструє нові уявлення про ґендерно-нейтральні і ґендерно-специфічні такесичні засоби комунікації, ініційовані комунікантами під час романтичного знайомства. Методи дослідження. Гібридний підхід (індуктивний і дедуктивний) до тематичного аналізу було застосовано для інтерпретації кодів невербальних засобів комунікації. Тематичний аналіз охоплював шість етапів кодування, за результатами якого було розроблено кодову книгу. Якісний інтерактивний соціолінгвістичний і кількісний аналіз, а також метод статистичної оцінки гіпотез (критерій хі-квадрат Пірсона) використовувались з метою розкриття статистичних закономірностей функціо-нування такесичних засобів комунікації. Результати. Вибірка дослідження становила 24 групи тактильної поведінки, до яких увійшли 557 зразків фемінних і 302 зразки маскулінних такесичних засобів комунікації. Виявлені засоби комунікації було згруповано відповідно до фокусу об’єкта на самоорієнтовані (8 груп) і контакто-орієнтовані (16 груп). За результатами дослідження очікувані ґендерні від-мінності були частково підтримані з урахуванням показника вагомості впливу. До ґендерно-нейтральних віднесено 11 груп такесичних засобів комунікації: 4 групи самоорієнтованих (розправляння одягу, тримання рук спереду, гра з волоссям, тримання рук за спиною) і 7 груп контакто-орієнтованих (інтимні обійми, рука в руці, рукостискання, поцілунок у щоку, обійми з поплескуванням, танець, тримання під руку). До ґендерно-специфічних віднесено 13 груп такесичних засобів комунікації: 4 групи самоорієнтованих (плескання в долоні – ініційовано лише чоловіками; рука на серці, закриття руками обличчя, покусування нижньої губи – ініційовано лише жінками) і 9 груп контакто-орієнтованих (поцілунок руки, здіймання жінки на руки, селфі – ініційовано лише чоловіками; ласка, поцілунок у губи, пестощі носами, масаж плечей, годування партнера з рук, стрибки на руки партнеру – ініційовано лише жінками).Висновки. Порівняльний аналіз встановив, що жінки надають перевагу руці в руці (φ = 0,35), грі з волоссям (φ = 0,28), інтимним обіймам (φ = 0,23), триманню рук спереду (φ = 0,18), обіймам з поплескуванням (φ = 0,12), руці на серці і закрит-тю руками обличчя; чоловіки надають перевагу розправлянню одягу (φ = 0,1) і поцілунку руки; тотожними є рукостискання і поцілунок у щоку. Отримані дані є передумовою для подальшого аналізу невербальних засобів комунікації, ініційованих під час первинної міжособистісної інтеракції в рамках романтичного медіадискурсу. Ключові слова:невербальна комунікація, знайомство віч-на-віч, ініціація романтичних відносин, медіапростір, дейтинг культура, реаліті дейтинг-шоу, міжособистісна інтеракція.
Much has been written about gender differences—particularly between men and women—in regard to communication. Primarily relating to gender communication differences in professional settings, Pearson (Advertising: Principles & practice. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,, 1981) presented the terms masculine rhetoric versus feminine rhetoric, with the first one being decisive, direct, rational, authoritative, logical, aggressive, and impersonal, and the second being cautious, receptive, indirect, emotional, conciliatory, subjective, and polite (Baker in Management Communication Quarterly 5:36, 1991). Some of the most frequently mentioned differences in gender communication are that, (1) women are more vocal than men; (2) women are more verbally skilled than men; (3) men are more action oriented in their use of language, while women are more relationship oriented; (4) men are more competitive in their language use, while women are more cooperative; and (5) the above differences lead to regular communication frictions between men and women (Cameron, 2007). Some other communication differences often highlighted are, that men mainly communicate to support their prominence, while women do so to build relationships; men smile less than women, women use more paralanguage (nonverbal indicators of listening and understanding) than men do; men will use communicative touching more to confirm their dominance (pat on the back or shoulder), while women will touch for connection (arm-touching or offering a hug), and women use more eye contact than men (Admin/Public Relations …, 2017). This chapter will outline, then analyze, the most common stereotypical classifications of gender-related communication, provide a contemporary view on whether these classifications are myths or reality, and how they should be addressed in this third decade of the twenty-first century.
Diabetes is a problem that affects the patient’s daily life and their main relationships. The couple, known as the primary caregiver, undergoes various changes in the health-disease process, which may or may not be beneficial for their relationship and the well-being of the patient. Thus, this chapter sets out to identify and delve into the relationship between warmth (closeness, affection, and the affective touch) and empathy of one member of the couple with the satisfaction that the other has. Providing an extension in the knowledge of the relationship of the warmth and empathy of A (healthy woman) with the satisfaction of B (diabetic man), the warmth and empathy of B in the satisfaction of A, the warmth and empathy of A1 (man healthy) with the satisfaction of B1 (diabetic woman), and the warmth and empathy of B1 in the satisfaction of A1.
Cet article examine le statut paradoxal du recours à l’expérience corporelle, aussi bien dans le champ de la santé qu’au sein des critiques féministes. Il s’agit de montrer en quoi les mécanismes d’objectification sexuelle participent à produire et à entretenir des troubles de la perception corporelle interne (faim, désir, douleur, etc.), soit des troubles intéroceptifs. Pour ce faire, l’auteure propose, d’une part, une redéfinition féministe de l’épistémologie de la médecine et, d’autre part, une critique du visiocentrisme qui traverse la science et l’activité médicales. Elle présente ensuite quelques réponses théoriques et pratiques à travers l’expérience du toucher thérapeutique. D’après son analyse, une conscientisation sans vécu (ou avec un vécu amputé) est possible. De même, les troubles de l’intéroception ne sont pas irréversibles, dès lors qu’ils sont pris en charge par des techniques somatiques appropriées, c’est-à-dire visant à stimuler l’expérience intéroceptive. Pour étayer son propos, l’auteure se réfère à sa quadruple expérience de philosophe, de praticienne de shiatsu, d’aveugle et de militante féministe dans le champ de la santé.
Haptic perception is considered as very important for human being since we can perceive the world and feel emotional stability through it, and also it is one of perceptual channels related to interaction with objects daily life. Traditionally, researches about haptic have been performed in the area of perception. However, recently psychologists who study in the field of social, organization, and consumer behavior deal with the haptic. The purpose of this study was that psychologists taking haptic into their study in the future would use like a tutorial, as reviewing the biological foundation, the perceptual mechanism, and the theoretical issue. Also, the present study introduced studies involving haptic in the areas of general psychology so that it would be possible to extend the concept of haptic and apply into other domains of psychology as well as perception. Finally, the propositions with haptic in the field of both organizational consumer behavior were presented for psychologists of organization and consumer psychology who would be interested in haptic.
Drawing from a multiplicity of contexts, drag king workshops, consciousness raising groups and artistic performances, I will analyze how touching practices are mobilized and interpreted by social actors as gender (de)construction devices. The issues presented in this paper are theoretical and analytical. I will propose a theoretical dialogue between two antagonistic traditions in feminism, neo-materialism and postmodernism, and gender, language and sexuality studies around the possible intertwinings between discourse and bodily materiality. I will show how a multimodal approach to gender takes in account what I call a poetic and a politics of tactile experience exceeding the temporality and the spatiality of interactions and to think about gender through the lens of sensoriality, experience and imagination.
Like most other children born to well-to-do families, Padma had, or at least it so seemed, a normal childhood, but for a few crucial events that changed everything, and pushed her helplessly down a path of quiet self-destruction. Even as a 6 year old, she showed a natural flair for Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian dance form. But art and music flowed in their family with many of her cousins making it big in the world of culture. Padma’s father took pride in his daughter’s abilities. He waited for the day when Padma would be recognized as the most talented danseuse not just in their considerably extensive family network, but beyond in the world at large. But once Padma entered high school, the growing distractions began to draw her away from the dance floor. Her performances began to wane. The promise that she originally showed now grew faint with every passing year. By the time she passed the crucial 10th grade, classical dance turned out to be the last thing on her mind.
Women have been reported to be more positive about same-gender touch, but cross-cultural information about this touch is limited. Male and female students from Chile (n = 26), Spain (n = 61), Malaysia (n = 32), and the US (n = 77) completed a same-gender touch scale. As in past studies, US women had more positive scores than US men. Malaysians had more negative scores than the other three groups. Spanish and US students had more positive scores than Chilean students. National differences in attitudes toward particular types of touch were also noted. The need for new methods for examining cross-cultural differences in touch was discussed.
This study examined the effects of culture, gender, and personality on an individual’s propensity to touch another person. A survey questionnaire was administered to 202 Japanese and 212 Korean undergraduate students. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the two personality traits of extraversion and openness exerted a significant positive effect on an individual’s propensity to touch others, such as their fathers, mothers, and close same-sex and opposite-sex friends. Furthermore, the relative effects of culture, gender, and personality on the tendency to touch varied depending on the target person. For example, culture was the strongest factor influencing an individual’s propensity to touch their parents, whereas extraversion most strongly influenced one’s tendency to touch close same-sex or opposite-sex friends. Our results suggest that individuals with high extraversion and/or high openness are more likely to use touching behavior as an instrument for building social relationships with close same-sex or opposite-sex friends.
Certain nonlanguage behaviors, such as voice quality (paralanguage), body motion, touch, and use of personal space (proxemics), appear to play a prominent role in communication. Research efforts to specify and to understand the communicative function of these behaviors, here generically termed "nonverbal," were reviewed. A distinction was drawn between 2 broad research strategies in this area: (1) the structural approach, in which an underlying system or set of rules somewhat analogous to those for languages is sought for nonverbal behavior; and (2) the external variable approach, in which statistical relationships are sought between specified nonverbal behaviors and other variables, such as the communication situation, Ss' personality characteristics, other nonverbal behaviors, or judgments of Os. Both structural and external variable studies were surveyed in addition to purely descriptive studies and major transcription systems. (3 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Ratings were made by 120 subjects of 18 video‐tapes in which verbal and non‐verbal cues for Inferior, Equal and Superior were varied and combined in a 3 times 3 design. The typed messages (verbal alone) were rated by further subjects, as were video‐tapes of a performer reading numbers (non‐verbal alone); the two sets of cues alone had identical effects on ratings. In combination, both kinds of cue had a reduced effect, but it was found that non‐verbal cues now had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues on shifts of ratings, and accounted for 10.3 times as most variance; verbal cues were only able to act as multipliers of consistent nonverbal cues. There was little evidence of double‐bind effects. Analysis of individual differences showed that females were relatively more responsive to non‐verbal compared with verbal cues, and that more neurotic subjects found the combination of Superior (non‐verbal) with Inferior (verbal) unpleasant, and responded more to verbal cues for Inferior‐Superior.
A field study of the normal tactile interpersonal behaviors of forty-five mother-child pairs in a public, recreational setting. No phase of high tactile contact between mothers and children was evident. Mothers met the children's basic needs for food, tactile comfort and safety. All mothers gave less tactile communication to their youngest children than they gave to their just-walking ones. Tactile contact declined from this peak on. Mothers were most active in the areas of Control and Nursing; much less frequent were Play, Affection, Comfort, and Anger. Most of the child-initiated contacts were of the affectionate attachment kind.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
Ratings were made by 120 subjects of 18 video-tapes in which verbal and non-verbal cues for Inferior, Equal and Superior were varied and combined in a 3 times 3 design. The typed messages (verbal alone) were rated by further subjects, as were video-tapes of a performer reading numbers (non-verbal alone); the two sets of cues alone had identical effects on ratings. In combination, both kinds of cue had a reduced effect, but it was found that non-verbal cues now had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues on shifts of ratings, and accounted for 10.3 times as most variance; verbal cues were only able to act as multipliers of consistent nonverbal cues. There was little evidence of double-bind effects. Analysis of individual differences showed that females were relatively more responsive to non-verbal compared with verbal cues, and that more neurotic subjects found the combination of Superior (non-verbal) with Inferior (verbal) unpleasant, and responded more to verbal cues for Inferior-Superior.
Although it has been a common finding that social class differences exist in the use of language, it is not known whether nonverbal communication is also used differentially by different SES groups. Videotaped recordings were made of the interactions between 2 divergent SES groups of 15 mothers and their preschool children in 2 situations. Data were analyzed with respect to three nonverbal variables. It was found that low SES mothers used more physical contact during a practical task; no difference existed between the SES groups on physical closeness during the tasks; the high SES motherchild pairs exchanged more mutual glances. The implications of these results for teachers are discussed.
Thirty-two boys and 32 girls, 13 months old, were observed with their mothers in a standardized free play situation. There were striking sex differences in the infants' behavior toward their mothers and in their play. Earlier observation of the mothers' behavior toward the infants at six months indicates that some of these sex differences were related to the mothers' behavior toward the infants. It was suggested that parents behave differently toward girls and boys, even as infants, reinforcing sex appropriate behavior. This study emphasizes the importance of observing the freely emitted behavior of the very young child.
INVESTIGATED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOUCHING, OR BODY CONTACT, AND PERSONAL SELF-DISCLOSURE TO EACH OF 4 TARGET-PERSONS: THE FATHER, MOTHER, BEST FRIEND OF SAME SEX, AND BEST FRIEND OF OPPOSITE SEX. A DUAL QUESTIONNAIRE TECHNIQUE, ONE ASSESSING CONTACT AND THE OTHER VERBAL SELF-DISCLOSURE, INDICATED THAT THE 2 INDICES OF INTIMACY ARE VIRTUALLY INDEPENDENT. AMOUNT OF TOUCHING VARIED OVER PERSONALITY TYPES, BUT GENERALLY IMPLIED SEXUAL EXPRESSION. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
32 boys and 32 girls, 13 months old, were observed with their mothers in a standardized free play situation. There were striking sex differences in the infant's behavior toward their mothers and in their play. Earlier observation of the mothers' behavior toward the infants at 6 months indicates that some of these sex differences were related to the mothers' behavior toward the infants. It was suggested that parents behave differently toward girls and boys, even as infants, reinforcing sex-appropriate behavior. This study emphasizes the importance of observing the freely emitted behavior of the very young child.
Morris, D . Intimate behavior
- A Montagu
- Touching
Montagu, A. Touching. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971. Morris, D. Intimate behavior. New York: Random House, 1971. NOTES 1. The author wishes to thank Martin Katzenstein for collecting the observation data.
The nature of deference and demeanor Interaction ritual
- E Goffman
Goffman, E. The nature of deference and demeanor. American
Anthropologist, 1956, 58, 473-502. In E. Goffman (Ed.),
Interaction ritual. New York : Anchor, 1967. Pp, 47-95.
Infant development in lower class American families. Symposium on Cross-Cultural Studies of Mother-Infant Interaction: Description and Consequence. Society for Research in Child Development meetings
- M Lewis
- C D Wilson
Lewis, M., & Wilson, C. D. Infant development in lower class
American families. Symposium on Cross-Cultural Studies of
Mother-Infant Interaction: Description and Consequence.
Society for Research in Child Development meetings,
Minneapolis, April 1971.
- S Duncan
- Nonverbal Communication
Duncan, S. Nonverbal communication. Psychological Bulletin,
1969,72,118-137.
New York: Random House
- D Morris