Touch and affect play an important role in close relationships. Affectionate touch has a positive impact on human health and well-being. In contrast, touch can also feel uncomfortable even in close relationships, or the participants may show a mismatching desire to touch. In this project, I study how romantic partners or caregivers and infants accept or reject touching and being touched and how such embodied interaction can be interrelated to negative and positive affect. Using video recordings of real-world interactions in people's homes, the project reveals what happens during such touching interactions, particularly when touch is rejected. This study contributes to the development of theory on the interrelationship between touch and affect in interaction. In addition, the project's results will help professionals and decision-makers to address consent to touch, which has been brought to wider attention by the recent #MeToo movement.

2025

2029