Evaluations of Affective Stimuli Modulated by Another Person's Presence and Affiliative Touch

Autor(es)

Wingenbach, Tanja S. H. ^[1] ; Ribeiro, Beatriz ^[1] ; Nakao, Caroline ^[1] ; Gruber, June ^[2] ; Boggio, Paulo S. ^[1]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Prebiteriana Mackenzie, Social & Cognit Neurosci Lab, Ctr Hlth & Biol Sci, Rua Piaui 181, 10th Floor, BR-01241001 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Colorado, Dept Psychol & Neurosci, Posit Emot & Psychopathol Lab, Boulder, CO 80309 - USA

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: EMOTION; v. 21, n. 2, p. 360-375, MAR 2021.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Affiliative touch carries affective meaning and affects the receiver. Although research demonstrates that receiving touch modulates the neural processing of emotions, its effects on evaluations of affective stimuli remain unexplored. The current research examined the effects of affiliative touch on the evaluation of affective images across 3 studies and aimed to disentangle the effect of another person's mere presence from the addition of affiliative touch. Participants thus underwent experimental conditions of social manipulation (presence, alone) and touch manipulations (receiving, self-providing, providing to experimenter) while viewing affective images (negative, neutral, and positive valence) and evaluated their valence. Study 1 included hand-squeezing (N = 39), and Study 2 included forearm-stroking (N = 40) in a within-subjects design. Study 3 included hand-squeezing (N = 109) in a between-subjects design. Across both studies, the results suggested that the receiving condition decreased the negativity of negative images, and the providing condition reduced the positivity of positive images. Furthermore, the other presence condition increased the positivity of positive images compared with the alone condition in Study 1 and to the receiving condition in Study 2. Hand-squeezing and forearm-stroking had differential effects on affective image evaluations depending on the image valence and who provided the touch. Overall, receiving touch seems to attenuate negative evaluations in negative contexts and the presence of others amplifies positive evaluations in positive situations. Discussion highlights the importance of affiliative touch within social interactions. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 16/19167-0 - Estudo do efeito do compartilhamento de experiências prévias na alocação de recursos no jogo do Ultimato
• Beneficiário: Caroline Kimie Nakao
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 14/50282-5 - Positive psychology and neuroscience: translational research to promote well-being and emotional regulation
• Beneficiário: Emma Otta
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa Centros de Pesquisa em Engenharia
• Processo FAPESP: 17/10501-8 - Estudo de bem-estar e comportamento gêmeos
• Beneficiário: Marco Antonio Correa Varella
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 16/19277-0 - Efeito do toque físico nas mãos na percepção sobre o bem-estar de terceiros
• Beneficiário: Beatriz de Oliveira Ribeiro
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Iniciação Científica
• Processo FAPESP: 17/00738-0 - Centro de Pesquisa em Bem-estar e Comportamento Humano
• Beneficiário: Tanja Stefanie Helga Wingenbach
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado