Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching
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...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Royal Society
2019
|
| _version_ | 1826280872521760768 |
|---|---|
| author | Suvilehto, J Nummenmaa, L Harada, T Dunbar, R Hari, R Turner, R Sadato, N Kitada, R |
| author_facet | Suvilehto, J Nummenmaa, L Harada, T Dunbar, R Hari, R Turner, R Sadato, N Kitada, R |
| author_sort | Suvilehto, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | 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. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:20:16Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:7c4a70f1-f921-4a1a-9d4a-f049b1424804 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T00:20:16Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:7c4a70f1-f921-4a1a-9d4a-f049b14248042022-03-26T20:56:08ZCross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touchingJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:7c4a70f1-f921-4a1a-9d4a-f049b1424804EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordRoyal Society2019Suvilehto, JNummenmaa, LHarada, TDunbar, RHari, RTurner, RSadato, NKitada, RMany 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. |
| spellingShingle | Suvilehto, J Nummenmaa, L Harada, T Dunbar, R Hari, R Turner, R Sadato, N Kitada, R Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title | Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title_full | Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title_fullStr | Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title_short | Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching |
| title_sort | cross cultural similarity in relationship specific social touching |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT suvilehtoj crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT nummenmaal crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT haradat crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT dunbarr crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT harir crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT turnerr crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT sadaton crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching AT kitadar crossculturalsimilarityinrelationshipspecificsocialtouching |