Strong emotional bonds between mothers and infants increase children’s willingness to explore the world—an effect that has been observed across the animal kingdom, in people, monkeys and even spiders. The more secure we are in our attachment to Mom, the more likely we are to try new things and take risks. Now researchers are discovering that this effect continues into adulthood. A mere reminder of Mom’s touch or the sound of her voice on the phone is enough to change people’s minds and moods, affecting their decision making in measurable ways.
In a study published online in April in Psychological Science, undergraduate business students had to choose between safe bets and risky gambles—a bond with a guaranteed 4 percent yearly return or a riskier stock option, for example. In half the cases, the experimenters patted the students lightly on the back of the shoulder for about one second while providing verbal instructions about the study. Both male and female students who were touched by a female experimenter were far more likely to choose the risky alternative than were those who had not been touched or were patted by male experimenters. The reassuring touch of a woman may have triggered early associations, inspiring the same openness to exploration that is observed in young children of supportive mothers, explains Jonathan Levav, a business professor at Columbia University and lead author of the study.
To further confirm that a woman’s touch links feelings of security with risk taking, the researchers asked a different group of undergraduates to make financial decisions after a writing exercise. Half of them wrote about a time they felt secure and supported, whereas the other half wrote about feeling insecure and alone. Evoking a sense of insecurity made students in the latter group especially receptive to the gentle shoulder pats from female experimenters and much more willing to take a risk—just as a child leaving for a field trip might steal one last reassuring hug from Mom before stepping on the bus.
But touch is not the only source of maternal comfort. In a study published online in May in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison stressed out a group of seven- to 12-year-old girls by giving them math and public-speaking exercises. Then they reunited some girls with their mothers but offered others only a phone call. The study found that girls who talked with their mothers on the phone released just as much oxytocin, the social bonding hormone, as those who got to hug their mothers. And both groups had similarly low levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, which might explain why so many people—young and old alike—call their mothers when feeling blue.
“What we are dealing with is very fundamental,” Levav says. “It comes down to the simple reason that your mom was the first one to hold you.” And the effects of that bond last for a lifetime.
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7 Comments
Add CommentThis study demonstrates what we have already known for a long time:the strong connection between mother and child goes on and on into adulthood.This strong attachment sometimes makes one unable to leave his or her mother´s company, and build an independent life.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this>> “It comes down to the simple reason that your mom was the first one to hold you.”
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn some cases this is not possible. Did any part of the study consider situations in which the dad, not the mom, was the first one to hold the child?
I'm not so sure about the conclusion that motherhood is involved with the differences in touch reactions from adult males or females, by adult males or females. Maybe the males sexuality distracted the subjects, of either sex, and stopped the oxytocin rather than lack of childhood conditioning.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am a heterosexual male and frequent user of medical services. I feel much more comfortable with strange females touching me than strange males, although this difference goes away after I become familiar with the (good) people and I trust them more equally.
I think this is because I've had intimate contact with females, but not males (my mom never comes into my thoughts) so I'm more used to them. I have more confidence in discerning any sexual gestures in their touch, I guess, and I also would be less alarmed by it. Strange male touch can be distracting.
Could this be why subjects reacted differently and it's not really tied to mom? My observations of females says they are more accepting of a stranger's touch when the stranger is a female, so my wife can touch children and other women in ways that would be out of place for me. Is that what was measured?
I also wonder if the sons would have reacted like the daughters in the stress study or if they would have gotten the oxytocin from a hug or phone call from dad?
I think these are real interesting studies but still not conclusive.
A parent always provides a fallback position if something goes wrong in a whilst taking a risk. Do like reactions occur within a social group so that individuals can effectively take risks on behalf of the group. Both the individual and the group benefitting from the comparatively greater risk taking of an individual.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCan this be traced back to the earliest humans when the risks were greater, mortality higher through both child birth and hunting. Is there a reciprocal chemical change in the mother? Is there a greater release of sex hormone so she wishes to mate with her spouse to compensate for the possible loss of her child due to the risk he/she is about to take?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo she is sexually motivated and gratified by giving a pat on the shoulder.
A similar study has been done with people asking for directions and getting much more help if they lightly touch the person they are asking, on the hand or shoulder. We do respond to touch and in North American culture with our strong sense of personal space, touch is also a no-no. In the schools teachers are not allowed to touch children lest a hug be misinterpreted as sexual or a touch on the shoulder be misinterpreted as a slap. This makes kids touch-deprived and hungry for affection and validation. They turn to peers usually and many preteens are very huggy with each other in school hallways nearly as an overreaction. With more and more 3rd party childcare younger and younger little children also become touch deprived and are easy prey for affections of strangers, often offering themselves up inappropriately to sit on laps or believe predators. The solution to this is to enable the natural touch of the parent for longer in the course of childhood. Sadly many economists are working to get mothers away from their children most hours of the day. We can fix this but it will take a new view of tax policy and what useful 'work' is. The research about bonding, attachment and touch is useful to show how kids feel.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe fact that a woman's touch increases a man's willingness to take risks would seem to have been determined a long time ago by casino operators.
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