Could More Hugging Help Us Build New Friendships?

Social relationships are a central aspect of human life. Despite that, it is often difficult to establish new friendships as an adult. One way people can signal to someone they have newly met that they may be interested in forming a stronger social bond, and maybe eventually a friendship, is by hugging them as a greeting or goodbye. However, the role of hugs in sparking social interest between people has not been thoroughly investigated in psychological science yet.

A new field study on the effects of hugging a stranger

A new field study, published in the scientific journal Social Influence, focused on the question of whether hugging a new acquaintance would make people more interested in that person (von Kleist, Henschel, and Dobkins, 2025). In the study, the research team, led by scientist Kira von Kleist from the University of California, San Diego, approached students on a university campus and asked them whether they would like to volunteer to participate in a study on social touch. If the students said yes, they were randomly assigned to one of six different groups:

1. Receiving no physical touch at all
2. Receiving a handshake, but no hug
3. Receiving a 1-second hug with a pat on the back
4. Receiving a 1-second hug without a pat on the back
5. Receiving a 3-second hug with a pat on the back
6. Receiving a 3-second hug without a pat on the back

Overall, 330 volunteers participated in the study. For statistical analysis, the scientists combined the two “no hug” conditions and the four “hug” conditions.

After the volunteers had received a hug or not, they were asked to fill out some questionnaires on a tablet or laptop. They were asked about how much they liked the hug they had received, about their hugging preferences, and some information about themselves. When the volunteers had filled out the questionnaires, they were under the impression that the data collection had ended. The experimenter then casually asked the volunteer whether they would be interested in having a look at their 187 pictures from their recent vacation to Serbia.

However, this question was also part of the data collection. The reaction to this question was recorded by the scientist and used as a measure of the social interest of the volunteer in the experimenter. If the volunteer said “no,” the experiment ended. If the volunteers said “yes,” the experimenter recorded the time the volunteer spent looking at the pictures. Social interest in the experimenter was measured by whether the volunteer said “yes” or “ no” when asked whether they would like to watch the vacation pictures. Moreover, the scientists calculated a score for social interest based on the time the volunteers who said “yes” actually spent looking at the pictures and the number of pictures they looked at.

What did the scientists find out?

The results of the study clearly showed that a hug made the volunteers more socially interested in the experimenter. In the group that received a hug, 76 percent of volunteers looked at the pictures, compared to only 52 percent in the group that did not receive a hug. This difference was statistically significant.

Similar results were found for the social interest score based on the number of pictures the volunteers looked at and the time they spent looking at these pictures. Also, for this analysis, volunteers who received a hug showed significantly more social interest in the experimenter than volunteers who did not receive a hug. In a further analysis, the scientists found that the volunteers who liked the hug they received more also showed greater social interest in the experimenter.

Takeaway

Taken together, the results of the study clearly showed that a consensual hug with a newly met person significantly increases their social interest in the hugger. Thus, a hug can be a powerful way to start a new friendship.

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