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Physiological and Psychological Parameters of Human Touch

The purpose of the present study was to investigate a human being's basic responses to being touched by another human being in a nonreactive context and the effects of an illogical rationale on system disorganization. Two hypothesis were put forth: 1 - that persons in similar circumstances who are not touched, and 2 - that persons who are touched for a reason that makes sense will display less psychological and physiological variability than persons who are touched for a reason that makes less sense or, perhaps, is even considered "illofical." Forehead touch was chose. Positive and negative affect scales were utilized to measure psychological reactivity while skin temperature and heart rate were employed to measure psychological reactivity. These hypotheses were not supported in the present study since the expected group by phase interactions were not obtained. Instead, main effects for phase were found, especially for heart rate scores. Many concerns about the nature of the sample and the manipulation itself are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc332744
Date08 1900
CreatorsKohl, Rita Ann
ContributorsMahoney, John Stanley, Guarnaccia, Charles J., Jr.
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvi, 103 leaves : ill., Text
RightsPublic, Kohl, Rita Ann, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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