In a recent experiment, students watched a video depicting a female student offering verbal and tactile support to another female student who had failed a midterm exam. The study found that verbal support centered on emotions was perceived as most effective in boosting self-esteem, self-efficacy, and reducing distress. When the verbal support addressed the problem directly, interactions that included tactile support, such as a hug or a pat on the back, were perceived as more effective. The paper was published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
Throughout life, individuals encounter various stressors ranging from minor daily inconveniences to severe hardships and even sources of trauma. During such times, support from others within one’s social circle becomes invaluable. While verbal support is common, often the most potent support is conveyed nonverbally—through actions and gestures.
A common form of nonverbal support is supportive touch, which includes behaviors like patting someone on the back, hugging, or offering a shoulder to cry on. These gestures are used to express affection, immediacy, and trust, and are believed to enhance the emotional wellbeing of the individuals involved. Researchers suggest that supportive touch may also bolster the recipient’s self-esteem.
Study author Samantha J. Shebib and her colleagues wanted to explore how supportive touch and verbal support messages focusing on emotions and focusing on the problem at hand (the problem for which the other person needs support) affect self-esteem, self-efficacy, and distress of the person they are aimed at.
To examine this, they conducted a study in which they videotaped a short interaction between two female students. In the scenario, one student named Courtney had failed a midterm exam and was the recipient of support from another student named Payton.
There were four variants of the video that differed in whether Payton provided supportive touch or not (i.e., whether Payton patted Courtney on the back and hugged her or not) and in whether what she told Courtney focused on the problem (e.g., “talk to a professor”), or on Courtney’s emotions (e.g., “I’m really sorry that you’re having such a tough time”).
The researchers noted a strong agreement between what individuals personally experience in interpersonal interactions and what observers perceive, as indicated in previous studies. Accordingly, they presented the video to study participants, who then assessed the impact of Payton’s actions on Courtney’s emotional state. The researchers believed that these assessments would closely reflect what someone in Courtney’s position would genuinely feel.
The participants included 409 students from a large Midwestern university, who were recruited through an online participant pool. The average age was 20 years, with 59% females and 77% identifying as White. Each participant viewed one of the four video variants and evaluated the impact of the interaction on Courtney’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, and distress alleviation. They also rated the severity of Courtney’s situation for self-esteem, the realism of the situation depicted in the video, the physical attractiveness of Courtney and Payton, and their own receptiveness to supportive tactile communication.
Results showed that participants viewed the Courtney-Payton interaction as moderately realistic. They found that verbal support messages focused on emotions were most effective at enhancing Courtney’s self-esteem, self-efficacy, and alleviating distress, regardless of whether they were accompanied by supportive touch. However, when Payton’s verbal support focused on Courtney’s problem, the interactions that included supportive touch were rated as more effective than those without.
“Our study’s results suggest that when in doubt, supportive tactile communication does not hinder observers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of using HEF [high emotion focused] messages in esteem supportive interactions (at least, in the context of female friendships). The present study found that supportive tactile communication can improve observed outcomes when HPF [high problem focused] esteem support messages are communicated. Thus, we conclude from this study that the addition of supportive tactile communication can aid in the effects of perceived enhanced state self-esteem and distress alleviation when used in conjunction with verbal HPF content,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the effects of supportive touch in situations that pose a threat to self-esteem. However, it is important to note that the participants and actors were all students, which may limit the generalizability of the results to other demographic groups. Additionally, whether a touch is perceived as supportive, neutral, or unwelcome can vary significantly depending on the context and the relationship between the individuals involved.
The paper, “An Experimental Investigation of Supportive Tactile Communication During Esteem Support Conversations,” was authored by Samantha J. Shebib, Josephine K. Boumis, Amanda Allard, Amanda J. Holmstrom, and Adam J. Mason.
