Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

In text Find Out more  boxes provide a brief, easy-to-read synopsis of a recently published SAGE Journal Article studies and research. For further research and exploration, each journal article is reprinted in full, below.

Research 4.1

Cohen, S., et al. (2015). Does hugging provide stress-buffering social support? A study of susceptibility to upper respiratory infection and illness. Psychological Science, 26. 135-147.

Abstract: Perceived social support has been hypothesized to protect against the pathogenic effects of stress. How such protection might be conferred, however, is not well understood. Using a sample of 404 healthy adults, we examined the roles of perceived social support and received hugs in buffering against interpersonal stress-induced susceptibility to infectious disease. Perceived support was assessed by questionnaire, and daily interpersonal conflict and receipt of hugs were assessed by telephone interviews on 14 consecutive evenings. Subsequently, participants were exposed to a virus that causes a common cold and were monitored in quarantine to assess infection and illness signs. Perceived support protected against the rise in infection risk associated with increasing frequency of conflict. A similar stress-buffering effect emerged for hugging, which explained 32% of the attenuating effect of support. Among infected participants, greater perceived support and more-frequent hugs each predicted less-severe illness signs. These data suggest that hugging may effectively convey social support.

Research 4.2

Li, S. & Li, L. (2007). How far is enough? A measure of information privacy in tems of interpersonal distance. Environment and Behavior, 39, 317-331.

Abstract: Do average people have a sense of information privacy, and do they require others to understand and respect such privacy concerns? This research attempted to operationalize the measure of information privacy by using interpersonal distance as a unit of measurement. We collected data on the interpersonal distance among the automatic teller machine (ATM), add value machine (AVM; information privacy attached) and ticket vending machine (TVM; little information privacy attached) users. On-site observation revealed that the interpersonal distance between ATM users was larger than that between AVM users, and the interpersonal distance between AVM users was larger than that between TVM users, which suggested that the concept of information privacy (in terms of personal identification numbers, money, etc.) can be thus operationalized and measured. Moreover, on-site observation and interview revealed that desired distance was larger than the actual distance for both ATM and AVM users, which indicated that people’s actual information privacy need is higher than that anticipated by others.

Research 4.3

Chen, S,F.,Munson, Juoa, Shoedn& Heinichs J  (2013.) In the eye of the beholder: Eye contact increase resistance to persuasion. Psychological Science, 24, 2254-2262.

Abstract: Popular belief holds that eye contact increases the success of persuasive communication, and prior research suggests that speakers who direct their gaze more toward their listeners are perceived as more persuasive. In contrast, we demonstrate that more eye contact between the listener and speaker during persuasive communication predicts less attitude change in the direction advocated. In Study 1, participants freely watched videos of speakers expressing various views on controversial sociopolitical issues. Greater direct gaze at the speaker’s eyes was associated with less attitude change in the direction advocated by the speaker. In Study 2, we instructed participants to look at either the eyes or the mouths of speakers presenting arguments counter to participants’ own attitudes. Intentionally maintaining direct eye contact led to less persuasion than did gazing at the mouth. These findings suggest that efforts at increasing eye contact may be counterproductive across a variety of persuasion contexts.