Navigating personal space and touching

Guests: Dacher Keltner, Tiffany Field

Hair sniffing and too much hugging – candidate Joe Biden has made at least a few women uncomfortable with is touchiness over the years. So much so that he had to offer a video apology promising to respect the boundaries of personal space at a time when, “social norms are changing.” Indeed, researchers report that we are touching less then we used to, but some worry that this trend could be affecting our health and our connections with others. This hour, we talk about personal space, social norms, and the role power and gender play. Our guests are DACHER KELTNER, co-director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley and TIFFANY FIELD, director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine.