The role of ethnicity and gender in evaluating observed social interactions

Kim, Suhkyung

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/72979 Copy

Description

Title

The role of ethnicity and gender in evaluating observed social interactions

Author(s)

Kim, Suhkyung

Issue Date

2015-01-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Dolcos, Florin

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Social interaction
• Emotion Evaluation
• Interpersonal Touch
• Handshake
• Ethnicity
• Sex Differences

Abstract

Non-verbal behaviors may facilitate effective social interactions, which are crucial aspects of human life. Among non-verbal behaviors, interpersonal touch has an important role in social interactions because of its emotional impact. However, it has remained ambiguous how ethnicity and sex differences affect the interpretation of interpersonal touch in observed social interactions. In the present study, the impact of ethnicity and sex differences on the positive effect of a particular form of interpersonal touch - the handshake - were investigated. Subjects from two ethnic groups, Caucasian and East Asian, were asked to watch and rate a series of video clips illustrating guest-host interactions, which were preceded or not by a handshake. Four ethnicity types and the sex were manipulated in the creation of host characters. Three main findings were identified. First, ethnicity and sex differences modulated the evaluation of the general outcome of social interaction. Second, participant’s ethnicity modulated the positive effect of the handshake in social evaluation. Third, culture-related sex differences, especially with respect to the hosts, modulated the positive effect of the handshake in social evaluation. These results indicate that ethnicity and sex differences modulate observer evaluation of the outcome of general social interaction and also the positive effect of interpersonal touch. Further investigations using fMRI may offer additional explanations of the role of ethnicity and sex differences during social evaluations at a neural level.

Graduation Semester

2014-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/72979

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 Suhkyung Kim

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