Touchy-feely study to put finger on millennial mores
Global survey aims to establish how important physical contact is to different age groups
THE biggest study into touch will find out whether millennials want less physical contact than previous generations following modern movements such as Metoo.
Goldsmiths, University of London has teamed up with the BBC to conduct a global survey asking a range of questions about how important touch is to people, how much they need it and how comfortable they are with physical contact.
Researchers will then study the answers to see whether people of varying nationalities, ages, disabilities, sexualities and genders feel differently.
While city dwellers may think nothing of being squashed up next to strangers on public transport, the study may show that those who live in the countryside find such close contact intolerable. Or it may show the opposite.
Experts say it is such a vastly underresearched area, that they are really not sure what the outcome will be.
They may find that millennials are deeply uncomfortable with close contact following recent sex scandals, but older generations may feel equally awkward at grand displays of affection.
The Touch Test online questionnaire, which went live at 9am this morning, will look into how touch impacts health and well-being, and how it relates to empathy, loneliness and the size of social networks.
It will ask whether contemporary society allows people to experience enough touch or leaves people feeling isolated and wanting more.
The questionnaire takes between 15 and 40 minutes, depending on the answers given, and is available at touchtest.org.
Prof Michael Banissy, from the university, who helped develop the sur- vey, said: “With the growth of important movements like Metoo, it is vital that we are able to gain a contemporary insight into the attitudes and experiences of touch in society.
“We are hoping that the Touch Test will enable us to do this, and will help us to inform new research on what touch means in the modern day.”
Previous small studies have shown the importance of touch. For example, it’s known that people feel less pain if they are holding hands with their partner, while diners are likely to tip more if a waiter lightly touches their arm.
The Touch Test hopes to find out what kind of physical contact is deemed appropriate or inappropriate in specific settings, such as during a doctor’s consultation or in therapy.
Claudia Hammond, a BBC presenter and psychology lecturer, who is launching the project on Radio 4’s All In The Mind today, told The Telegraph: “We’re going to look at attitudes towards compassion, whether that varies for things like age, gender, and other factors. It’s interesting to know where young people’s attitudes to touch, for example, have changed.
The study will even explore the kinds of materials that people like to touch, and the results will be explored in a BBC series The Anatomy of Touch in the autumn.