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REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Emotion Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1418374

This article is part of the Research Topic Affiliative Touch and Sense of Self: Theoretical Foundations and Innovative Treatments View all 5 articles

Touch as Emotion Regulation

Provisionally accepted
Ozge Ugurlu Ozge Ugurlu *Dacher Keltner Dacher Keltner
  • University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Interpersonal touch is central to emotional well-being. Even though numerous studies demonstrate its efficacy in mitigating negative affect, emotional distress, and physical pain across human development and in diverse species, little to date has been offered in terms of how touch functions as a form of emotion regulation. That is the aim of this review. First, we review how touch – enabled by an interpersonal tactile system – facilitates emotion regulation through its impacts on neurophysiological response. We then outline how touch communicates emotional states in interpersonal relationships that are vital to emotion regulation. Finally, we chart four pathways through which touch functions as an emotion regulation strategy.

    Keywords: Touch, Affect, Emotion Regulation, emotional communication, Stress buffer

    Received: 17 Apr 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ugurlu and Keltner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ozge Ugurlu, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.