It’s the opposite of a “feel-good” moment.
While hugs might seem like a display of affection, psychopaths use embraces and other forms of physical contact to control their partners, per an unsettling new study published in Current Psychology.
“Not all forms of touch are well-intentioned,” study author Richard Mattson, professor of psychology at Binghamton University in New York, said in a recent release. 3
For instance, a partner who embraces their significant other during an argument might be trying to do a psychological “clinch” to establish authority.
The researcher and a team of students had set out to expand upon studies on how people “can leverage touch” to boost the health of a relationship, per the release.
However, while most of these studies focused on the benefits o