To Touch or to Talk
Individual Preferences, Trust and Empathy in Comforting Behaviours
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12397443 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Irene Valori (0000-0002-9560-2789, Chair of Acoustics and Haptics, Technische Universität Dresden Dresden Germany, corresponding author), Yichen Fan (0009-0001-1210-4080, Chair of Industrial Design Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden Dresden Germany), Merel M Jung (0000-0002-3645-9425, Department of Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence Tilburg University Tilburg The Netherlands), Simone Shamay-Tsoory (0000-0003-1088-5212, University of Haifa), Simone Shamay‐Tsoory (Department of Psychology University of Haifa Haifa Israel), Merle T Fairhurst (0000-0001-6540-5891, Chair of Acoustics and Haptics, Technische Universität Dresden Dresden Germany) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-25 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1052-9284 • E-ISSN: 1099-1298 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/casp.70216 |
| OpenAlex | W7117293219 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 107 |
Social touch has the power to alleviate physical pain and emotional distress. Here we ask whether touch is perceived as more effective than words in comforting interactions, and whether its effects are influenced by interaction dynamics, individual preferences for touch, propensity to trust, and trait empathy. Across two studies, participants ( n = 199) were exposed to comics depicting comforting interactions between two friends, one experiencing emotional distress and the other providing comfort either verbally or through touch. Results suggest that the comforter's trustworthiness and the interaction positivity increase when the comforting modality matches the one that observers would likely use in their friendships. Tactile interactions and observers' high trait empathy enhance emotional empathy. Social touch therefore emerges as especially impactful in eliciting empathy, yet it may also carry the risk of enhancing personal distress for comforters. Please refer to the section to find this article's community and social impact statement
Distress · Emotional distress · Empathy · Personal distress · Power (physics · Social relation · Trait · Trustworthiness · Action Observation and Synchronization · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Psychology of Social Influence
A construct divided
The Neural Bases for Empathy
Empathy and compassion
Measuring the Closeness of Relationships
What is compassion and how can we measure it? A review of definitions and measures
Discriminative and Affective Touch
An Integrative Model of Organizational Trust
Social touch to build trust
Affective Interpersonal Touch in Close Relationships
In search of compassion
The impact of betrayal trauma on the tendency to trust
Touch medicine
Touching Emotions
Development and validation of a propensity to trust scale
Personality traits and the propensity to trust friends and strangers
Gender differences in touch
Keep in touch
| Highly cited | No |
|---|