Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching.

Juulia T Suvilehto,Robert Turner,Ryo Kitada,Riitta Hari,Robin I M Dunbar,Norihiro Sadato,Tokiko Harada,Lauri Nummenmaa

doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.0467

Abstract

Many species use touching for reinforcing social structures, and particularly, non-human primates use social grooming for managing their social networks. However, it is still unclear how social touch contributes to the maintenance and reinforcement of human social networks. Human studies in Western cultures suggest that the body locations where touch is allowed are associated with the strength of the emotional bond between the person touched and the toucher. However, it is unknown to what extent this relationship is culturally universal and generalizes to non-Western cultures. Here, we compared relationship-specific, bodily touch allowance maps across one Western (N = 386, UK) and one East Asian (N = 255, Japan) country. In both cultures, the strength of the emotional bond was linearly associated with permissible touch area. However, Western participants experienced social touching as more pleasurable than Asian participants. These results indicate a similarity of emotional bonding via social touch between East Asian and Western cultures.

Highlights

Interpersonal touch is a critical part of human social communication
The social grooming patterns are explained by factors such as attraction to high-ranking individuals, attraction to kin and competition for grooming partners [7,8], implying that variations in the relationship specificity of social touch might be correlated with differences in social structure
The results show that the touchable areas differed between the UK and Japan, they were dependent on the strength of the emotional bond

Summary

Introduction

Interpersonal touch is a critical part of human social communication. It contributes to cognitive and socioemotional development in childhood [1,2] and promotes relational, psychological and physical well-being in adulthood [3,4]. There has been growing interest in the effects of interpersonal touch on human social behaviour and in the resulting social relationships. Social grooming plays a important role in social bonding, and the psychological experience of increased social closeness is reflected in prosocial behaviours [5,6]. The social grooming patterns are explained by factors such as attraction to high-ranking individuals, attraction to kin and competition for grooming partners [7,8], implying that variations in the relationship specificity of social touch might be correlated with differences in social structure

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion