Data from: Cross-cultural similarity in relationship-specific social touching

Many species use touching for reinforcing social structures, and
particularly non-human primates use social grooming for managing their
social networks. However, it is still unclear how social touch contributes
to maintenance and reinforcement of human social networks. Human studies
in Western cultures suggest that the body locations where touch is allowed
are associated with the strength of the emotional bond between the person
touched and the toucher. However, it is unknown to what extent this
relationship is culturally universal and generalizes to non-Western
cultures. Here, we compared relationship-specific, bodily touch allowance
maps across one Western (N = 386, United Kingdom) and one East Asian (N =
255, Japan) country. In both cultures, strength of emotional bond was
linearly associated with permissible touch area. However, Western
participants experienced social touching as more pleasurable than Asian
participants. These results indicate a similarity of emotional bonding via
social touch between East Asian and Western cultures.