scholarly journals Topography of social touching depends on emotional bonds between humans

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (45) ◽  
pp. 13811-13816 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juulia T. Suvilehto ◽  
Enrico Glerean ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar ◽  
Riitta Hari ◽  
Lauri Nummenmaa
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Emotional Bonds ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Relationship

Nonhuman primates use social touch for maintenance and reinforcement of social structures, yet the role of social touch in human bonding in different reproductive, affiliative, and kinship-based relationships remains unresolved. Here we reveal quantified, relationship-specific maps of bodily regions where social touch is allowed in a large cross-cultural dataset (N = 1,368 from Finland, France, Italy, Russia, and the United Kingdom). Participants were shown front and back silhouettes of human bodies with a word denoting one member of their social network. They were asked to color, on separate trials, the bodily regions where each individual in their social network would be allowed to touch them. Across all tested cultures, the total bodily area where touching was allowed was linearly dependent (mean r2 = 0.54) on the emotional bond with the toucher, but independent of when that person was last encountered. Close acquaintances and family members were touched for more reasons than less familiar individuals. The bodily area others are allowed to touch thus represented, in a parametric fashion, the strength of the relationship-specific emotional bond. We propose that the spatial patterns of human social touch reflect an important mechanism supporting the maintenance of social bonds.

Do women seek humorousness in men because it signals intelligence? A cross-cultural test

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn E. Weisfeld ◽  
Nicole T. Nowak ◽  
Todd Lucas ◽  
Carol C. Weisfeld ◽  
E. Olcay Imamoğlu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Marital Satisfaction ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Alternative Possibilities ◽  
Social Credit ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractMiller has suggested that people seek humorousness in a mate because humor connotes intelligence, which would be valuable in a spouse. Since males tend to be the competing sex, men have been more strongly selected to be humorous. To test this notion, we explored the role of humor in marriage cross-culturally, in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Turkey, and Russia. In the first four societies, husbands were perceived to make wives laugh more than the reverse, but wives were funnier in Russia. Spousal humorousness was associated with marital satisfaction in all cultures, especially the wife's satisfaction. Spousal humorousness was less consistently related to spousal intelligence than to some alternative possibilities: spousal kindness, dependability, and understanding. Furthermore, the relationship between these four variables and marital satisfaction was mediated by spousal humorousness. Humor is gratifying in other social contexts as well. Humorists may gain social credit by providing amusement, and may also use humor to gauge another's mood and to engender liking, perhaps especially in courtship and marriage. Spouses may also take humorousness as a sign of motivation to be amusing, kind, understanding, dependable — as a sign of commitment.

The role of oxytocin on peaceful associations and sociality in mammals

Behaviour ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (9-11) ◽  
pp. 1053-1071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Romero ◽  
Kenji Onishi ◽  
Toshikazu Hasegawa
Keyword(s):  
Individual Variation ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Maternal Attachment ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Biological Substrates ◽  
The Relationship

There is currently substantial evidence indicating that oxytocin, a hypothalamus neuropeptide, modulates many forms of social behaviour and cognition in both human and non-human animals. The vast majority of animal research, however, has concentrated on maternal attachment and reproductive pair-bonds. In order to understand the neurochemical foundations of peaceful associations and sociality, oxytocin’s contribution to other types of social bonds, as well as to individual variation in sociality, should also be explored. Here, we summarise the most current studies that have investigated oxytocin’s role in regulating stable peaceful associations not directly related to mating. We also provide an overview on oxytocin’s role in support of specific social structures, and propose a novel research approach to evaluate the relationship between individual variation in social tendencies and variation in the oxytociergic system. We conclude by discussing avenues of future investigation in the biological substrates of sociality.

The role of personality in shaping pandemic response: Systemic sociopolitical factors drive country differences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan Siritzky ◽  
David M Condon ◽  
Sara J Weston
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
State Fragility ◽  
Systemic Factors ◽  
Pandemic Response ◽  
The Relationship

The current study utilizes the current COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the importance of accounting for the influence of external political and economic factors in personality public-health research. We investigated the extent to which systemic factors modify the relationship between personality and pandemic response. Results shed doubt on the cross-cultural generalizability of common big-five factor models. Individual differences only predicted government compliance in autocratic countries and in countries with income inequality. Personality was only predictive of mental health outcomes under conditions of state fragility and autocracy. Finally, there was little evidence that the big five traits were associated with preventive behaviors. Our ability to use individual differences to understand policy-relevant outcomes changes based on environmental factors and must be assessed on a trait-by-trait basis, thus supporting the inclusion of systemic political and economic factors in individual differences models.

Social Networks and Social Complexity in Female-bonded Primates

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Lehmann ◽  
Katherine Andrews ◽  
Robin Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Social Bonds ◽  
Primate Brain ◽  
The Social ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Primate Group ◽  
Network Metrics ◽  
The Relationship

Most primates are intensely social and spend a large amount of time servicing social relationships. The social brain hypothesis suggests that the evolution of the primate brain has been driven by the necessity of dealing with increased social complexity. This chapter uses social network analysis to analyse the relationship between primate group size, neocortex ratio and several social network metrics. Findings suggest that social complexity may derive from managing indirect social relationships, i.e. relationships in which a female is not directly involved, which may pose high cognitive demands on primates. The discussion notes that a large neocortex allows individuals to form intense social bonds with some group members while at the same time enabling them to manage and monitor less intense indirect relationships without frequent direct involvement with each individual of the social group.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1901) ◽  
pp. 20190467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juulia T. Suvilehto ◽  
Lauri Nummenmaa ◽  
Tokiko Harada ◽  
Robin I. M. Dunbar ◽  
Riitta Hari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The Body ◽  
Human Studies ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Social Grooming ◽  
Emotional Bonding ◽  
Social Touch ◽  
Cultural Similarity

Many species use touching for reinforcing social structures, and particularly, non-human primates use social grooming for managing their social networks. However, it is still unclear how social touch contributes to the maintenance and reinforcement of human social networks. Human studies in Western cultures suggest that the body locations where touch is allowed are associated with the strength of the emotional bond between the person touched and the toucher. However, it is unknown to what extent this relationship is culturally universal and generalizes to non-Western cultures. Here, we compared relationship-specific, bodily touch allowance maps across one Western ( N = 386, UK) and one East Asian ( N = 255, Japan) country. In both cultures, the strength of the emotional bond was linearly associated with permissible touch area. However, Western participants experienced social touching as more pleasurable than Asian participants. These results indicate a similarity of emotional bonding via social touch between East Asian and Western cultures.

scholarly journals The role of subnational cultural value on animosity: the China-South Korea THAAD crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeoung Yul Lee ◽  
Joong In Kim ◽  
Alfredo Jiménez ◽  
Alessandro Biraglia
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Quality Evaluation ◽  
Cultural Distance ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Chinese Consumers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study examines the impact of situational and stable animosities on quality evaluation and purchase intention while also testing the moderating effects of within- and cross-country cultural distance. It focuses on the case of the US THAAD missile defense system deployment in South Korea (hereafter, Korea) and investigates how the resulting Chinese consumers' animosity affects their quality evaluation of, and purchase intention toward, Korean cosmetics.Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes a quantitative approach based on a survey and structural equation modeling. The sample comprises 376 Chinese consumers from 19 Chinese regions.FindingsThe results indicate that both stable and situational animosities are negatively associated with purchase intention toward Korean cosmetics. However, their effects on quality evaluation are different. While stable animosity is negatively related to product quality evaluation, situational animosity has no such negative association. Finally, the cultural distance between Chinese regions and Korea strengthens the negative relationship between stable and situational animosities and purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe study contributes by better unraveling the effects of stable and situational animosities on perceived product quality. The empirical context is unique because it allows the authors to investigate the relationship between Chinese antagonism toward the THAAD deployment in Korea and Chinese consumers' stable and situational animosities in terms of their quality evaluation of, and purchase intention toward, imported Korean cosmetics. Hence, this study contributes to the literature on consumer animosity by empirically testing the moderating effect of within- and cross-country cultural distance on the relationship between stable and situational animosities and purchase intention.Practical implicationsThe study has relevant practical implications, notably for Korean exporters' marketing management and within- and cross-cultural management. The results suggest that countermeasures are needed because Chinese consumers' stable and situational animosities are negatively related to their purchase intention toward Korean cosmetics. Moreover, the findings provide the insight that when foreign firms export culture-sensitive products to a large, multicultural country, their managers should pay attention to within- and cross-cultural differences simultaneously.Originality/valuePrevious studies have shown that the effects of animosity on product evaluation and purchase intention differ depending on the animosity dimension, product type, country and the situation causing animosity, among others. However, the existing literature on animosity has neglected the reality that within-cultural differences in a single large emerging market are relevant to explaining the concept of animosity and its effect on the purchase intention toward culture-sensitive products. Furthermore, none of the animosity studies have touched on the important moderating role of within- and cross-cultural differences between a large and multicultural importing country and a brand's home country in this manner. Therefore, the study fills this gap by empirically examining whether different moderating effects of stable and situational animosities exist for a specific conflict situation caused by a military issue and investigates the causes of these different effects.

Describing Sound

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary Wallmark ◽  
Roger A. Kendall
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Empirical Thought ◽  
Linguistic Account ◽  
Human Embodiment

Timbre exists at the confluence of the physical and the perceptual, and due to inconsistencies between these frames, it is notoriously hard to describe. This chapter examines the relationship between timbre and language, offering a critical review of theoretical and empirical thought on timbre semantics and providing a preliminary cognitive linguistic account of timbre description. It first traces the major conceptual and methodological advances in psychological timbre research since the 1970s with a focus on the mediating role of verbalization in previous paradigms. It then discusses the cognitive mechanisms underlying how listeners map timbral qualities onto verbal attributes. Applying a cognitive linguistic approach, the chapter concludes that timbre description may reflect certain fundamental aspects of human embodiment, which may help account for certain trans-historical and cross-cultural consistencies in descriptive practices.

Supporting Natural Helpers: A Cross-Cultural Study

1985 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 358-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Kelley ◽  
Verne R. Kelley
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Cultural Study ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Cross Cultural Study ◽  
Natural Helper ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Natural Helpers ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between professional and natural helpers was the subject of similar studies in Iowa and in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As a result, several clusters of natural helpers were identified and a model for professional-natural helper cooperation was developed.

scholarly journals Smiling in Pain: Explorations of Its Social Motives

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Kunz ◽  
Kenneth Prkachin ◽  
Stefan Lautenbacher
Keyword(s):  
Social Bonds ◽  
Qualitative Properties ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Quantitative Level ◽  
Clinical Pain ◽  
Socially Motivated ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Unpleasant Experience

Studies of facial responses during experimental and clinical pain have revealed a surprising phenomenon, namely, that a considerable number of individuals respond with a smile. So far, it is not known why smiling occurs during pain. It is possible that the “smile of pain” is socially motivated (e.g., reinforcing social bonds while undergoing an unpleasant experience). The present studies were conducted in an attempt to address the role of social motives in smiling during pain. In two studies, we varied the quantitative (level of sociality) and qualitative (properties of the relationship between interactants) components of the situations in which participants received painful stimulation. Participants’ faces were video-recorded and the occurrence of smiling was assessed. The occurrence of smiling differed depending on stimulus intensity and the properties of the relationship between interactants. Smiling occurred more often during the painful compared to nonpainful stimulation. Whereas the presence of a stranger (experimenter) reduced the smiling behavior, the presence of an intimate other increased it. Slight variations in the level of sociality, however, had no effect on the degree of smiling. Social motives possibly aimed at strengthening social bonds and thus ensuring social support appear to underlie smiling during pain.

scholarly journals The Cultural Limits of Legal Tolerance

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin L. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Cultural Form ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
Dialogic Theory ◽  
The Relationship

This article presents the argument that our understanding of the nature of the relationship between modern constitutionalism and religious difference has suffered with the success of the story of legal tolerance and multiculturalism. Taking up the Canadian case, in which the conventional narrative of legal multiculturalism has such purchase, this piece asks how the interaction of law and religion - and, in particular, the practices of legal tolerance - would look if we sought in earnest to understand law as a component, rather than a curator, of cultural diversity in modern liberal societies. Understanding the law as itself a cultural form forces us to think about the interaction of law and religion as an instance of cross-cultural encounter. Drawing from theoretical accounts of cross-cultural encounter and philosophical literature about the nature of toleration, and paying close attention to the shape of Canadian constitutional doctrine on religious freedom (law’s rules of cross-cultural engagement), this paper suggests that legal toleration is far less accommodative and far more assimilative than the conventional narrative lets on. Influential alternative theoretical accounts ultimately reproduce this dynamic because they similarly obscure the role of culture on both sides of the encounter of law and religion. Indeed, owing to the particular features of the culture of law’s rule, even the more thickly cultural "solutions" proposed in dialogic theory ultimately fail. In the end, this article exposes the very real cultural limits of legal tolerance.

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