Gentle touch soothes the pain of social rejection

The gentle touch of another individual soothes the effects of social exclusion, one of the most emotionally painful human experiences, according to new UCL research. The study, published today in Scientific Reports and funded by the European Research Council, tested the impact of a slow, affectionate touch against a fast, neutral touch following social rejection and found a specific relationship between gentle touch and social bonding. "As our social world is becoming increasingly visual and digital, it is easy to forget the power of touch in human relations. Yet we've shown for the first time that mere slow, gentle stroking by a stranger can reduce feelings of social exclusion after social rejection," said lead author, Mariana von Mohr (UCL Clinical, Education & Health Psychology). The discovery follows recent findings that affective social touch, and particularly gentle stroking of the skin, may be coded by a special physiological system linking the skin to the brain. Only three other studies have directly examined the buffering effects of social support on ostracism through the presence of friends, teddy bears and supportive text messages, this is the first to investigate social touch. In the study, 84 healthy women were led to believe that they were playing a computerised ball-tossing game with two other participants to measure their mental visualisation skills.