Do You Love to Hug? Research Explains Why
You may be hardwired for hugging
“The question that drove the study was: Recognizing that some people are more affectionate than others, what accounts for that variation, and is any part of that variation genetic?” said researcher Kory Floyd when explaining his work. So if you’re a hugger and your partner really isn’t, is there a reason for that?
According to Floyd’s study, which appeared in Communication Monographs, there is: It’s a little bit nature and a little bit nurture.
“When we measure people’s tendency to be affectionate and to receive affection from other people, almost without exception we find that women score higher than men.”
During his research, Floyd surveyed 464 pairs of adult twins, aged 19 to 84, about how much affection they tended to express and found that for women, their level of affection was 45 percent influenced by genetics and 55 percent influenced by environmental factors. However, when it came to the men in the study, their affectionate tendencies were entirely based on environmental factors, which can include things like interpersonal relationships, unique life experiences, and the media they consume.
