Positive effects of touch have been shown on the psychological and physiological level, with touch for example protecting us against the negative consequences of stress. Social touch however also induces feelings of security and willingness to take risks, characteristics of socially dominant behavior. The current study (N=24, female) investigates the effect of social touch on speed of gaze-aversion from eye-contact, an implicit marker of dominance-submissive behavior. Using interactive eye-tracking we show that social touch slows down gaze-aversion from subliminally presented angry compared to happy eye-contact. Recently, we reported slower gaze-aversion from subliminally presented facial anger in subjects with high levels of social dominance and low levels of social anxiety. The present results thus provide evidence that social touch induces gaze behaviors characteristic for high social dominance and low social anxiety. By slowing down gaze-aversion to facial anger social touch promotes the implicit-reactive behavioral tendency to engage in social confrontation.
