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. 2017 Oct 18;7(1):13516.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-13355-7.

The soothing function of touch: affective touch reduces feelings of social exclusion

Mariana von Mohr  1 , Louise P Kirsch  2 , Aikaterini Fotopoulou  2
Affiliations

The soothing function of touch: affective touch reduces feelings of social exclusion

Mariana von Mohr et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The mammalian need for social proximity, attachment and belonging may have an adaptive and evolutionary value in terms of survival and reproductive success. Consequently, ostracism may induce strong negative feelings of social exclusion. Recent studies suggest that slow, affective touch, which is mediated by a separate, specific C tactile neurophysiological system than faster, neutral touch, modulates the perception of physical pain. However, it remains unknown whether slow, affective touch, can also reduce feelings of social exclusion, a form of social pain. Here, we employed a social exclusion paradigm, namely the Cyberball task (N = 84), to examine whether the administration of slow, affective touch may reduce the negative feelings of ostracism induced by the social exclusion manipulations of the Cyberball task. As predicted, the provision of slow-affective, as compared to fast-neutral, touch led to a specific decrease in feelings of social exclusion, beyond general mood effects. These findings point to the soothing function of slow, affective touch, particularly in the context of social separation or rejection, and suggest a specific relation between affective touch and social bonding.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the study procedure. All participants completed the same experimental procedure, in the exception of receiving slow or fast touch after the Cyberball exclusion condition, depending on their assigned group. PANAS, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Slow touch (3 cm/s); Fast touch (18 cm/s).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Inclusion and exclusion total need-threat score of the slow and fast touch group on a continuous 5-point scale. Lower scores indicate greater need-threat. Error bars denote ± standard error of the mean for illustration purposes. Asterisks indicate significant differences (p < 0.025) and n.s. indicate non-significant differences.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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