Do romantic couples adjust their walking speed when walking together? Researchers timed how long it took 11 heterosexual couples (22 total participants) to walk around a track by themselves, next to their romantic partners, holding their partner’s hands, with same-sex friends, and with opposite-sex friends. Regardless of hand-holding, men significantly slowed their pace when walking with their romantic partners, whereas women did not adjust their pace. When walking with opposite-sex friends, men slowed their pace and women increased their pace, though neither changed pace for same-sex friends, suggesting that when the walking partner was not a romantic partner, individuals compromised in their walking speeds.
Wagnild, J., & Wall-Scheffler, C. M. (2013). Energetic consequences of human sociality: Walking speed choices among friendly dyads. PLoS ONE, 8(10): e76576.
