Observers' reaction to touchers.
20 men and 20 women were shown nine photographs in which two people were interacting. The first photograph shown showed a male and a female engaged in a nontouching interaction. The remaining eight photographs showed a touching interaction. Subjects rated their affective reaction to each of the touching interactions relative to their reaction to the first (nontouch) interaction. In the latter 8 photographs, the person facing the camera was either male or female, the person with back to camera was either male or female, and the touch shown was either a hand touch or a hug. All touching interactions were rated more positively than the standard (nontouch interactions). Male and female subjects tended to show identical reactions to the photographs. More positive reactions were shown to cross-sex hugging than to same-sex hugging and interactions showing hand touch.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014110:Touch