Touch, compliance, and awareness of tactile contact

Percept Mot Skills. 2007 Apr;104(2):581-8. doi: 10.2466/pms.104.2.581-588.

Abstract

Many experimental studies have shown that touch increases compliance with a request; however, the difference between the effect of touch on compliance between participants who notice and those who do not notice such contact remains in question. An experiment was conducted in which a female confederate asked 368 female smokers to give her a cigarette. In the Touch condition, when making her request, the confederate slightly touched the participant on her forearm. Analysis showed the touch was associated with significantly higher compliance to the request, and a difference was evident in the Touch condition between subjects who had noticed the tactile contact and those who had not.

Publication types

  • Retracted Publication

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention
  • Awareness*
  • Cooperative Behavior*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Motivation
  • Social Behavior
  • Touch*