Hugging as a buffer against distal fear of death
Keywords:
hugging, mortality salience, physical contact.Abstract
Hugging can be a source of health, comfort or pleasure, although these effects depend on the context in which the physical contact takes place (Ellingsen et al., 2016). The present study analyzed the capacity of hugging, to minimize death-thought accessibility and the anxiety associated with it when the thought of death is salient. The sample consisted of 90 participants, 34 men (37.8%) and 56 women (62.2%). An experimental design was used with two factors, a two condition intra-subject factor, time (Pre-condition vs Post-condition), and an inter-subjects factor (with hugging vs without hugging). Participants were randomly distributed equally by sex in the two groups, a ‘with hugging group’ (N=45) and a ‘without hugging group’ (N=45). All participants initially completed the pre-condition questionnaires and 30 minutes later they were subject to the mortality salience (MS) task. The MS induction was followed by the experimental condition activity. In this session, the participants in the ‘hugging condition’ received a hug lasting 20 seconds. Subsequently they completed the questionnaires again. The participants in the ‘without hugging condition’ group completed the post-condition questionnaires at the end of the MS task, after waiting 20 seconds without doing any activity, sitting. The results suggest that hugging helps to buffer the negative emotional reaction to the death thoughts but without modifying awareness of the seriousness of the situation.
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