Although positive effect of touch on compliance has been widely reported, new evaluation was made with an unusual request. 80 male bus drivers were solicited by a male or a female confederate to take the bus despite having too little money for the fare. Bus drivers were briefly touched by the confederate during solicitation. Analysis showed that bus drivers who were touched accepted the request more favorably bur only when made by a female.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BickmanL.KamzanM. (1973) The effect of race and need on helping behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 89, 73–77.
2.
CruscoA. H.WetzelC. G. (1984) The Midas touch: The effects of interpersonal touch on restaurant tipping. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 10, 512–517.
3.
DovtdioJ. F. (1982) Sex, costs, and helping behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 112, 231–236.
4.
GuéguenN. (2002) Status, apparel appearance and touch: Their joint effects on compliance to a request. North American Journal of Psychology, 4, 279–286.
5.
GuéguenN.Fischer-LokouJ. (2002) An evaluation of touch on a large request: A field setting. Psychological Reports, 90, 267–269.
6.
HarrelA. W.GoltzW. J. (1980) Effect of victim's need and previous accusation of theft upon bystander's reaction to theft. Journal of Social Psychology, 112, 41–49.
7.
HarrisM BBaysG. (1973) Altruism and sex roles. Psychological Reports, 32, 1002.
8.
HornikJ. (1987) The effect of touch and gaze upon compliance and interest of interviewees. Journal of Social Psychology, 127, 681–683.
9.
HornikJ. (1992) Effects of physical contact on customers' shopping time and behavior. Marketing Letters, 3, 49–55.
10.
KaufmanD.MahoneyJ. M. (1999) The effect of waitresses' touch on alcohol consumption in dyads. Journal of Social Psychology, 139, 261–267.
11.
KleinkeC. L. (1977) Compliance to requests made by gazing and touching experimenters in field settings. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 218–223.
12.
LynnM.LeJ-M.SherwynD. S. (1998) Reach out and touch your customers. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 39, 60–65.
13.
PaulsellS.GoldmanM. (1984) The effect of touching different body areas on prosocial behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 122, 269–273.
14.
SmithD. E.GierJ. A.WillisF. N. (1982) Interpersonal touch and compliance with a marketing request. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 3, 35–38.
