TY - JOUR
AU - Hall, Judith A.
AB - Reviews the literature on gender differences in touch, which is divided into observational studies of touch frequency, people's beliefs about frequency and meaning, data on qualitative differences in touch, and studies of response to touch. The observational studies reveal no overall tendency for males to touch females more than vice versa; a tendency for females to initiate touch more than males; a questionable tendency for females to receive touch more than males; a tendency for more female same-gender touch than male same-gender touch; and a tendency for same-gender dyads to touch more than opposite-gender dyads. Some of these conclusions are debatable, owing to methodological problems. Data dealing with qualitative aspects of touch are too sparse and inconsistent to yield much information about gender differences in the uses or meanings of particular types of touch. The literature shows a tendency for women to respond more positively to touch than men. N. M. Henley's (1977) power hypothesis is discussed as a possible explanatory framework. (67 ref)
TI - Gender differences in touch: An empirical and theoretical review
JF - Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DO - 10.1037/0022-3514.47.2.440
DA - 1984-08-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/american-psychological-association/gender-differences-in-touch-an-empirical-and-theoretical-review-08XGrGlmPR
SP - 440
EP - 459
VL - 47
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -