The Power of Touch
Many of us may not realize the power of the human touch (non-sexual), but research has shown that a simple touch can have powerful psychological effects.
Here are some interesting examples:
Money
While out to dinner, if your server at the restaurant touches you, you may find yourself giving them a bigger tip.
Help
If touched, we are more likely to help someone in need. For example, one study showed that helping behavior went from 63% to 90% after a person was touched. That is, an experimenter touched strangers on the arm or shoulder, and after that they were more likely to provide help to that person.
Compliance
Another study looks at touching specifically on the upper arm. They found that when people were asked to sign a petition, compliance increased 26% after being touched. Another study showed a 30% increase after being touched on the upper arm.
More compliance
Touch twice and get more compliance. It might not be surprising to learn that men complied more when being touched by a female.
Do better on math tests
One study showed that people who got a massage 2 times per week for
5 weeks (aside from being more relaxed than the control group), performed better on math exams. Go figure!
One thing to note is that not all cultures appreciate and respond the same way to being touch. Particularly if one man touches another man. This can actually be a sign of or cause aggression. Women, however, seem to respond favorably to touch across cultures.
However, men in some cultures are comfortable receiving a light touch from another man. For example, in France a study was conducted at a car sales lot where some men were touched by a male sales person and some were not. The result? The men who were touched rated the sales person as ‘more sincere, friendly, honest, agreeable and kind’.
Check out the original article here.
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