The Science: Touch has a long and well-documented history of tricking our brains into liking people more.
One study had a bunch of students work on problem-solving tasks, along with an assistant who was posing as a student.
Thinking "yes" or "no" to specific personal questions triggered changes correlating with brain activity that could be translated by a computer.
When the patients were repeatedly asked "are you happy?
A group mind might be formed by any fictional plot device that facilitates brain to brain communication, such as telepathy.
Then all you'll get for your trouble is a distressed shriek and an elbow to the nose, which is exactly what you would've gotten if you had just grabbed her lustily and shouted "HONK HONK." Dating is just the worst.
The concept of the group or hive mind is an intelligent version of real-life superorganisms such as an ant colony or beehive.
Hive minds are group minds with (almost) complete loss (or lack) of individuality, identity, and personhood.
Four patients who are unable to speak, move or blink have communicated they are "happy" after a successful attempt was made to read their thoughts.
The discovery was made during a ground-breaking experiment aimed at piercing the wall of silence that surrounds victims of completely locked-in syndrome (CLIS).