We all know the value of human touch. It’s one of the defining cornerstones of our existence since our birth — the connection between mother and infant. The importance of maternal physical contact and nurturing has been demonstrated time and time again in previous research.
But what we don’t always realize is the impact simple human touch has on another person. A handshake, a touch of the shoulder — these things matter in more ways than we may realize. Could human touch increase our sense of security, as prior studies have suggested, which in turn could make us to make more risky decisions?
That’s what two researchers (Levav & Argo, 2010) set to find out in a series of three experiments…
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What they did not mention though is the sexual side of this issue.
Sorry but what is left out of this attempt to sexualize various touches is what women represent to the people being touched. It’s not about a woman’s touch or a man’s touch but what those models represent to each of us. Combined with the use of college students who typically come from two parent homes where the mother represents the caretaker of the children so a blessing from the “Mother Model” would give them the security to make more risks.
I have mirror touch synesthesia. Since I discovered that it really exists back in January, I’ve explored some of the parameters of what that means with a friend of mine. For example, it explained a lot of my social phobia. I feel it when people are chewing, so I avoid eating with others. I am almost never touched by anyone–a few hugs a year from one of my sons and an occasional handshake is it. I mentioned to my friend that I thought the mirror touch might be part of the reason that I can survive without actual touch–I am touched all the time. Now *that* would be an interesting thing to research.