Gender Differences in Touch Behaviour Between Cross-Sex Dyads 1

Gender Differences in Touch Behaviour Between Cross Sex Dyads

Nia Lee

University of the West Indies

Janice Lucas

December 6, 2016
Running head: Gender Differences in Touch Behaviour Between Cross Sex Dyads
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University of the West Indies Mona

ID Number: 620103744
Lecturer: Janice Lucas
Period: Thursday 5 pm
Course: Psych1005
Assignment: 4
Running head: Gender Differences in Touch Behaviour Between Cross Sex Dyads
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Abstract

Touch between mixed gendered dyads is used to convey a multitude of different messages, non-verbal cues and

emotions. The research aimed to examine mixed gendered dyads on a university campus to determine which

gender initiated touch more frequently and whether the location of the dyad (indoors or outdoors) would affect

the frequency of touch. Touch was placed into two categories, hand and non-hand. Participants were

observed unobtrusively and the number of times touch occurred as well as the gender of the initiator, recorded.

Three hundred and twenty-four mixed-gender dyads were observed. Fourteen dyads did not touch at all. One

hundred and sixty-three dyads were located outdoors at the time of observation with 159 located indoors. The

location of two dyads was not reported. There was no significant difference observed in initiation of hand

touches between the genders. There was however a significant difference observed in the initiation of non-hand

touches between the dyads as males initiated non- hand touches more often females. The location of the dyads

did not appear to play any major role in the frequency of touch between the dyads.
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Introduction

Nonverbal communication is an essential aspect of human social interactions. Touch can be used to

express compassion, create intimacy and convey aggression. Social perception of touch may influence the

prevalence of tactile nonverbal communication within mixed gendered dyads in public settings. Women are

more likely to interpret touch as being more compassionate, empathic, trusting and caring when initiating touch

as suggested by research conducted by Lee and Guerrero (2001). Whereas men may tend to perceive touch

within the context of sex. The nature of the relationship between the mixed gendered dyad can also heavily

influence how the touch is received and interpreted. When emotional intimacy levels increased within the

cross-sex friendship, women are often more open to engaging in physical contact, while men feel more aversion

towards it (Miller et al, 2014).

The research conducted within this paper aimed to ascertain which gender initiated touch more often. It

also sought to understand if the location of the male-female dyads played any role in the frequency of touch

initiation between the pair. One hundred and sixty three dyads were observed for the purpose of this research.

The dyads were all observed at a local university campus unobtrusively and the number of times touch was

initiated as well as the gender of the initiator recorded.

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Review of Past Literature

Touch between cross sex relationships can be used to convey many different emotions and intentions.

Many researchers have chosen to study the incidence of touch between cross gendered dyads. Willis and Briggs

(1992) study supported the researchers initial hypothesis that men would initiate touch more often than

women. This was observed more often in couples that were married for less than a year. However, in couples

married for longer than a year women were found to initiate touch more often. Couples that were married for

more than a year were more likely to not touch each other at all.

Evolutionary mating patterns may play a role in this phenomenon. In most mammalian species males

tend to seek out as many mating partners as possible to easily pass on their genetics. Females are more limited

to the number of offspring they can produce during their lifetimes. Men therefore may use touch to secure sex

while women use touch to preserve the bond afterwards. The incidence of men initiating touch more often in

younger couples as opposed to older couples was also recorded in Willis and Dodds (1998) study. Men in

younger couples are also more likely to initiate more public touch than women. The interpretation of touch may

also play a role in the frequency of initiated touch as men are more likely to interpret touch as sexual while

women interpret it as intimate and loving.

The level of intimacy between the cross-sex dyads may also play a major role in the frequency of touch

between the dyad. Even in established platonic relationships, female mating behaviour may influence the

incidence of touch between the dyad. While male desire for touch within cross sex friendships may be initially

higher, when levels of intimacy between the dyad increases, this desire for touch is likely to drop. The opposite

comes into play for females in platonic friendships. When emotional intimacy between the dyad increases for

females, so does the desire for touch (Miller et al, 2014).

The interpretation of emotion via touch may also be heavily influenced by the nature of the relationship

between both the giver and the receiver of the touch. Couples are often more efficiently capable of interpreting

emotion conveyed by touch than strangers. Strangers may be more likely to confuse sadness, sympathy and

love (Thompson and Hampton, 2011). Though non verbal communication is an essential aspect of conveying

emotion and intent, the kind of touch, gender of the touch initiator and the nature of the relationship between
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the giver and the receiver of the touch can also influence how acceptable it is perceived as. Perception of

touch by onlookers may be influenced by the gender of the initiator. A hug around the waist is perceived as

being more socially acceptable when initiated by women as opposed to men. Shoulder taps may be perceived as

being condescending while a touch on the inside of the arm or a touch on the face may be perceived as being

most intimate. Women are also generally seen as being more compassionate, trusting and caring by observers

when using touch as opposed to men (Lee and Guerrero, 2001).

Hall and Veccia (1990) study found that men and women initiated touch with equal frequency but males

were found to initiate touch with the hand more as opposed to women who initiated more non-hand touches.

Males were also found to be more likely to put their arm around their female companions. Within their study

they also found that younger men (under 30) initiated touch much more frequently than older men. This

coincides with Willis and Briggs (1992) finding that younger couples initiated touch more often than older

married couples, who often did not partake in touch at all.

Based on previous research I hypothesize that males will initiate more non-hand touches than females

when in a conversing dyad. I also hypothesize that more touch will occur inside than outside. I also predict that

conversing mixed gender dyads located indoors will make more non-hand touches than outdoors.
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Method

Participants

Three hundred and twenty-four mixed-gender dyads were observed. One hundred and sixty-three dyads were

located outdoors at the time of observation (50.3% of observations) with 159 located indoors. The location of

two dyads was not reported.

Design

The male-female dyads were observed unobtrusively by a single researcher for the duration of one

minute. The amount of times touch was initiated between that dyad within the minute of observation was

recorded as well as the gender of the initiator, the type of touch and the location of the dyad. The operational

definition of touch was broken down into two categories; hand touch and non hand touch. Hand touch was

defined as touch in which the initiators hand was used to touch the receivers body and non hand touch was

defined as any other kind of touch i.e kissing, hugging etc.

Apparatus

The researcher recorded the results with pen and paper.

Results

For hand touches, males touched first (44.4%) less often than females (46.0%). For the remaining dyads there

were either no touches or it could not be determined who made the first touch (9.6%).

For non-hand touches, males touched first (42.0%) more than females (28.4%). For the remaining dyads either

both persons touched simultaneously (1.5%), there were either no touches or it could not be determined who

made the first touch (28.1%).

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There was no significant difference observed in which gender made a hand touch first, 2(1) = .09, p> .05.

There was a significant difference observed in which gender made a non-hand touch first., 2(1) = 114.45, p<
.05.

The t-test analysis comparing touch by location revealed no significant difference between the groups, t(319) =
0.35, p> .05
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Discussion

The purpose of the study was to discover which gender initiated touch more often in conversing mixed

gendered dyads and if the location of the dyad may play a role in the frequency of touch behaviour. The initial

hypothesis that males would initiate non- hand touch more often than females was supported by the data

collected. The other hypothesis that more touch would be initiated indoors than outdoors was not supported by

the evidence as there was no significant difference in frequency of touch observed. Therefore, it is suggested

that the location of the conversing dyads played no major role in their willingness to touch one another. The

collected data also supports the findings of Hall& Veccias (1990) and Willis and Dodds data collected. No

significant gender difference was observed in regards to the frequency of overall touch between the dyads. This

is similar to the findings of Hall&Veccias (1990) study that found no major differences between the two

genders in frequency of touch initiation. The lack of major difference between touch occurring indoors or

outdoors could be due to persons choosing to maintain a level of appropriateness in professional spaces.

Though in Hall and Veccias (1990) study it was found that women initiated non-hand touches more often than

men, the findings of our research contradict this.

Some limitations to the study were the short duration for which the dyads were observed. One minute

may not be a sufficient enough period to observe human behaviour and make judgements. The dyads may also

have altered their behaviour due to being in a public, professional setting such as a university campus. The

presence of other persons may have also lead to alterations within the dyads touch behaviours. This may be

particularly true for females who may feel more uncomfortable with touch in public spaces (Miller et al, 2014).

The presence of the observer and other persons in the shared space of the dyads may have impacted their

willingness to touch one other. Due to the unobtrusive nature of this research the researchers are also left unable

to clarify the nature of the relationship between the members of the dyads. The researchers are also unable to

verify if the members of the dyad were also members of the institution in which the observation took place.

Future researchers may benefit from altering the unobtrusive observational nature of this research. They may

elect instead to observe dyads in more casual social settings such as clubs, bars, parties or even shopping malls.

They may also choose to instead secure the participation of willing participants to volunteer in the study so that
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more information regarding the nature of the relationships of the dyads e.g. whether it is platonic or romantic,

how long the members of the dyads have known each other, what topics their conversation covered and what

kind of touch occurred during. Future researchers may also seek to observe male-female dyads of varying ages.

Similar observations could take place in elderly homes, graduate schools, high schools and even kindergartens

and the findings compared.

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Table 1

Displays frequency average initiation per minute of both hand touch and non-hand between cross sex dyads

Female Male Indoors Outdoor

Number of Persons 322 319 159 162

Mean 3.50 3.23 6.37 6.96

Standard Deviation 3.54 3.03 5.16 6.23

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References

Hall, J. A., & Veccia, E. M. (1990). More touching observations: new insights on men, women and
interpersonal touch. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, 59,, 1155-1162.
Lee, J. W., & Guerrero, L. K. (2001). Types of touch in cross-sex relationships between coworkers: perceptions
of relational and emotional messages, inappropriateness, and sexual harassment. Journal of Applied
Communication Research, 29, 197-220.
Miller, M. J., Denes, A., Diaz, B., & Ranjit, Y. (2014). Touch attitudes in cross sex friendships: we're just
friends. Personal Relationships, 21, 309-323.
Thompson, E. H., & Hampton, J. A. (2011). The effect of relationship status on communicating emotions
through touch. Cognition and Emotion, 25, 295-306.
Willis Jr, F. N., & Briggs, L. F. (1992). Relationship and touch in public settings. Journal of Nonverbal
Behavior, 16, 55-63.
Willis Jr, F. N., & Dodds, R. A. (1998). Age, relationship and touch initiation. The Journal of Social
Psychology, 138, 115-123.