EFFECTS OF INTERPERSONAL TOUCH, DEGREE OF JUSTIFICATION, AND SEX OF PARTICIPANT ON COMPLIANCE WITH A REQUEST

A female experimenter approached individually 60 shoppers (30 male, 30 female) who were checking out of a discount store in the midwestern U nited States. In requesting to move ahead of the shopper in line, the experimenter touched half of the shoppers on the back of the arm and g ave each shopper 1 of 5 increasing levels of justification (including 2 helping model explanations). The experimenter rated the shoppers on their willingness to cooperate and recorded their compliance. Both com pliance and willingness to cooperate increased significantly when the request was accompanied by higher levels of justification. There were no main effects for either touch or sex of participant; there was 1 si gnificant interaction between sex and justification. Male shoppers wer e particularly influenced by high levels of justification. Possible ex planations of results and suggestions for future research are offered.