Study Suggests Hugs Foster More Liking Than Handshakes With Strangers
New research indicates that a warm embrace may be more effective than a handshake in building initial rapport.
A study involving 330 participants suggests that greeting a stranger with a hug, rather than a handshake, may lead to them liking you more. Researchers found that 76 percent of individuals were willing to view holiday pictures from someone who had hugged them upon first meeting, compared to only 52 percent of those who received a handshake or no physical contact.
According to Professor Karen Dobkins, a senior author of the study from the University of California San Diego, human touch is evolutionarily linked to feelings of safety and security. She theorizes that a hug can evoke these positive emotions and a sense of warmth towards the person initiating the embrace.
The research involved a team of 18 researchers who employed three greeting methods: a hug, a handshake, and no physical touch. The subsequent willingness of the strangers to engage further, specifically by viewing holiday pictures, served as the metric for assessing likability. The findings suggest a significant difference in receptiveness based on the greeting protocol, with the hug eliciting a notably higher level of positive engagement.