SEX DIFFERENCES IN HUMAN GREETING BEHAVIORS IN WAITING AND MEETING SITUATIONS: A FIELD STUDY IN JAPAN

Abstract

In this study, I observed the greeting behaviors of 3,008 people or 1,504 dyads while they were waiting for and meeting another person at a station in Japan. I recorded human greeting behaviors and evaluated the factors that influenced them. I classified the greeting behaviors as body contact, wave, hail or bow. At least one of these four behaviors was observed in 43.4% of all. The greeting behaviors occurred more frequently in the person that arrived the second at the waiting location than in the first. Sex differences in greeting behaviors were also observed. For example, females waved their hands most frequently whereas males raised their hands to hail most frequently. Similarly, the greeting behaviors differed according to the sex patterns of the actors and the recipients. These findings suggest the possibility that relationship differences among male same-sex pairs, female same-sex pairs and opposite-sex pairs create sex differences in greeting behaviors like nonhuman animals.