The Science of Touch and Connection Ft. Dr. Michael Banissy Purposeful Empathy Hosted by Anita Nowak

Watch this episode to learn about the simple - but powerful - benefits of touch. Dr. Michael Banissy is a social neuroscientist at the University of Bristol who studies affection, communication, sleep, empathy, and touch. He is also the author of Touch Matters: Handshakes, Hugs, and the New Science on How Touch Can Enhance Your Well-being. In this episode, he explains how humans experience empathy, connection and belonging through touch and offers his thoughts about whether or not robots can offer similar touch benefits. 00:00 Preview 00:32  Introduction 00:50 About Dr. Michael Banissy 02:27 Outcomes of The Touch Test (the world’s largest study of touch) 04:28 Michael’s personal experience as a touch scientist 06:25 The benefits of different kinds of touch 09:23 The importance of touch for children and babies 11:17 How social connection improves our well-being 14:05 How touch connects us to our environments 16:08 Can technology replicate physical touch? 21:26 How do we experience empathy? 25:50 The value of empathy in workplace collaboration 26:45 Techniques to flex our empathy muscles 31:37 Dr. Michael Banissy’s Purposeful Empathy Story CONNECT WITH DR. MICHAEL BANISSY ✩ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-banissy/  ✩ Twitter: @mbanissy ✩ Instagram: @mbanissy CONNECT WITH ANITA ✩ Email [email protected]   ✩ Website https://www.anitanowak.com/   ✩ LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/anitanowak ✩ Instagram https://tinyurl.com/anitanowakinstagram ✩ Twitter https://twitter.com/anitanowak21 ✩ Facebook Page https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyFacebook ✩ Facebook Group https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyCommunity ✩ Podcast Audio https://tinyurl.com/PurposefulEmpathyPodcast Video edited by David Tsvariani