Studies A surprising hug from a half-hearted person can feel uncomfortable – social touch doesn’t always and everywhere

Touching alienation can also overwhelm prejudice.

By chance against the half-hugged hugged vigorously and muttered a couple more cheek kisses. It may not feel very comfortable, but rather embarrassing. Social touch is not always a pleasant experience for the person to touch, recalls a recent study.

Handshake, shoulder stroking, shoulder rubbing – another person’s physical intimacy at its best strengthens social relationships, calms and supports mental well-being.

Contact-induced reactions are regulated by many situational factors, explains the acting. university lecturer Aino Saarinen From the University of Helsinki. These include familiarity between the parties and whether the touch is appropriate for the situation.

“If a doctor touches a patient while measuring blood pressure, the situation is natural. However, if there is no explanation for the touch, the person to be touched may be confused and may not feel comfortable. ”

For example, a hug as a form of touch is quite intimate and, in addition to the hands, hits areas of the body where contact with a stranger is often not desired. A hug can feel uncomfortable, especially if it comes from a stranger or in a surprising situation, or if the hug is intended to express feelings that the person being hugged does not fit into the situation.

Contact activates, among other things, the opioid system of the brain, which processes social pleasure and, on the other hand, also becomes rejected.

“Touch also activates other brain networks, such as the emotional center almond nucleus, which can react strongly to even a threatening touch. Even the slightest touch can cause extensive reactions in the brain, ”Saarinen describes.

He was the editor-in-chief in the research review, published September 16 in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. The mapping addresses a variety of factors related to conditions and individuals that change the behavior and neurological reactions of the person being touched. There were 99 original studies to be analyzed.

The review focuses on all types of social contacts between adults and the immediate reactions they evoke. The effect of contacts on the outside is limited, for example in long-term psychotherapy, as well as erotic contact.

Several studies show that a visible illness or other abnormal external nature of the contact may cause a negative reaction. The criminal background of the contact or his or her belonging to, for example, a sexual minority can lead to the same, when the contact has a negative attitude towards it.

The touch of a person belonging to another ethnic group can also be experienced as unpleasant. According to a U.S. study, contact with a dark-skinned nurse increased heart rate in white patients.

The still life can also work the other way around. In the 1970s, for example, it was found that dark-skinned customers queuing up at a coffee shop touched other blacks than whites.

“Underlying such phenomena has been seen the impact of evolution. It is thought that there may still be a primitive instinct in human nature to protect oneself from a foreign tribe. The question is how to control these reactions so that they do not cause harm to society. ”

There are often prejudices behind feelings of aversion.

“It has been found that previous feelings of discomfort with that group of people make it more sensitive to avoid contact in the future. Instead, the negative emotional response to contact is reduced if there are previous contacts that are perceived as positive. We are talking about mental preparation, for which even one meeting in advance may be enough, ”says Saarinen.

Also expressions affect the reaction produced by touch.

“If you imagine that Pekka touches Liisa in the same way every day, but her expression changes from a smile to a neutral and a surprise, Liisa experiences the touches in very different ways. In the brain, touch causes different reactions depending on whether, for example, a warm blink is compatible with facial expressions. ”

What could ordinary people or clients do to learn from the research?

“In the healthcare industry, there is evidence that a patient’s stress condition is relieved if the caregiver, when passing, touches him or her gently and naturally.”

In everyday interaction situations, it is worth remembering that a physical approach, especially to a stranger, does not always evoke positive emotions, even if the touch is transient and intended to be pleasant. Its success is influenced by various factors.

“As far as minorities are concerned, it is good for us to be aware of our instinctive negative reactions and related prejudices so that they can be reduced,” says Saarinen.

Alone the physical intimacy experienced by residents with other people is clearly diminished due to the corona. Various feelings such as touching grief are most welcome from the people closest to you.

Postdoctoral researcher at Linköping University Juulia Suvilehto has investigated the effect of corona on contact behavior in a study involving nearly 400 people, mainly from the Nordic countries. According to preliminary results, contacts from non-home partners clearly decreased during the pandemic.

“There were fewer contacts from close people living elsewhere. So do strangers and professionals, such as hairdressers and doctors. ”

Addressing the lack of contact may have required more effort, especially for those living alone, to maintain human relationships. The longing for intimacy may also have been satisfied by other means, such as acquiring a pet for herding.

Before hand it is known that most people like a calm, ironic and skin-warm touch.

“In addition to fast sensory nerves, we have separate slow C-tactile sensory nerves in our body. They convey pleasant impulses, which are best generated by a soft, warm and calm but not too slow touch, ”says Suvilehto.

Due to the pandemic, the handshake has been declared put. According to Suvilehto, it remains to be seen whether we will learn completely from the handshake.

“According to a German study published in 2019, handshake was the only form of touch that people received more than they wanted. Instead, for example, fewer hugs and kisses had been received across the line than was needed. ”

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