Abstract
Observers unobtrusively recorded instances of interpersonal touch at three large academic meetings (two of psychologists, one of philosophers). The names and affiliations of the individuals involved in these touches were later referred to published sources in order to develop codes reflecting the relative personal and institutional statuses of these individuals. There was mixed but on balance no overall evidence that higher-status individuals touched lower-status individuals more than vice versa. However, higher- and lower-status individuals initiated different kinds of touch. Higher-status individuals initiated touch that was judged more often to be affectionate and that was more often directed to the arm or shoulder, whereas lower-status individuals initiated more formal touches and handshakes. Gender asymmetry in touch was very weak overall, but favored male-to-female over female-to-male touch when the two individuals had equal professional status.
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Judee K. Burgoon served as Action Editor for this article.
This research was supported by grant #RR07143 (Biomedical Research Support Grant, Department of Health and Human Services) to Northeastern University and by National Science Foundation grant # SBR-9311544. Thanks are extended to Ellen M. Veccia, who collaborated on the study design; Sabrina Herman, Treniece Lewis, Vanessa Roberts, Garry Germaine, Voravut Ratanakommon, and Alex Zelenchuk, who served as observers; and Denise Marcoux, Curtney Jacobs, Christopher O'Brien, and Alex Zelenchuk, who helped code the status indicators and prepare the touch data for analysis.
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Hall, J.A. Touch, status, and gender at professional meetings. J Nonverbal Behav 20, 23–44 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248713
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02248713