EFFECTS OF TIMING OF TOUCH ON COMPLIANCE TO A REQUEST

This study examined the effect of touch on compliance to a help reques t. Two hundred thirty-six subjects who had just finished filling out s everal personality inventories were asked by the experimenter to stay and help in another study. The experimenter's nonverbal behavior was m anipulated in five ways: (1) no touch, (2) touch several minutes befor e request, (3) touch several minutes before request by an assistant, ( 4) touch just before request, and (5) touch during request. Results di d not replicate a past touch-compliance correlation. A significant fou r-way interaction between sex of subject, sex of experimenter, touch c ondition, and subjects' affective ratings of the experimenter was foun d on the amount of time spent complying. Female Ss complied more for f emale Es who touched them. Processes which may affect the highly condi tional effects of touch were discussed.