Increasing compliance with a request: two touches are more effective than one

Touch procedures have been shown to increase the likelihood of compliance with requests. But the effect of subsequent touches following a classical touch procedure has not been investigated. It was predicted that two touches would lead to more compliance than one touch. 180 male and 180 female bystanders were asked to fill in a short or long questionnaire by a female confederate. They were touched by the confederate either once, twice, or not at all. Results showed that there was more compliance in the two-touch than in the one-touch condition, and when the participants were touched by the confederate. These findings support the hypothesis. Moreover, whereas participants were less likely to fill in the long questionnaire in the no-touch condition, touch procedures led to more compliance whatever the questionnaire length. Also, touch was more effective when a female confederate made the request to a male participant.     

Touch, compliance, and awareness of tactile contact

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.     

Effects of driver cell-phone use on driver aggression

Using 2 field procedures, the authors assessed impacts of cell-phone use on mild forms of driver aggression. Participants were 135 drivers traveling within a city of approximately 17,000 people in an otherwise little-populated region of western North Dakota. The authors videotaped the participants while a confederate driver in a low-status vehicle frustrated them. In Experiment 1, the confederate was traveling well under the posted speed limit. In Experiment 2, the confederate remained motionless at a stoplight that had turned green. When the confederate visibly talked on a hand-held cell phone (n = 67), male drivers exhibited their frustration by honking their horn more quickly and frequently than did drivers in no-cell-phone trials, and female drivers were more angry according to blind judgments of videotaped facial expressions that were compared with those of drivers in no-cell-phone trials (n = 68). The present results suggested that driver cell-phone use contributes to the growing crisis of roadway aggression.     

Touch,awareness of touch,and compliance with a request

In certain situations it has been shown that touch has a positive effect on the compliance with a request expressed by a stranger. However, the difference between the effect of touch on request compliance between people who had noticed and those who had not noticed this contact has never been taken into account. In this experiment a female confederate asked 227 women to answer a questionnaire. When asking for their collaboration the forearm was or was not touched for a brief period of 1 to 2 seconds. Analysis showed that touch was associated with significantly higher compliance to the request but no difference was found between subjects who had noticed the tactual contact and subjects who had not noticed.     

Semantically induced memories of love and helping behavior

This study tested the effect of semantically induced thoughts of love on helping behavior. In a natural setting, 253 participants were interviewed and asked to retrieve the memory of a love episode or, in the control condition, a piece of music they loved. They then met another confederate who asked for money. Analysis showed that inducing the idea of love had a significant positive effect on compliance to a request by a male passerby who was asked for help by a female confederate, but not by a female passerby. Theoretical explanations are presented, based on a gender-role expectation hypothesis.     

Men's sense of humor and women's responses to courtship solicitations: an experimental field study

Producing humor might function as a fitness indicator associated with greater desirability during dating selection. A male confederate in a bar was instructed to tell (or not tell) funny jokes to two other male confederates. A few minutes later, when the second of two male confederates left, the first male confederate asked a female who was near his table and who had heard the funny jokes for her phone number. The previous expression of humor was associated with greater compliance with the male confederate's request and with a higher positive evaluation. The possible effects of humor are discussed from an evolutionary perspective.     

Effects of a favor and liking on compliance

A laboratory experiment was conducted to examine the effects of a favor and of liking on compliance with a request for assistance from a confederate. Liking for the confederate was manipulated, and male subjects then received a soft drink from the confederate, from the experimenter, or received no favor. Compliance with the confederate's request to purchase some raffle tickets was measured, as was liking for the confederate. The results showed that the favor increased liking for the confederate and compliance with his request, but the effect of manipulated liking was weak. Detailed ratings of the confederate as well as correlational data suggested that the relationship between favors and compliance is mediated, not by liking for the favor-doer, but by normative pressure to reciprocate.     

An evaluation of touch on a large request: a field setting

The effect of touch on compliance to a request has traditionally been tested with small solicitation (answer to a small questionnaire, give a dime to a confederate ....). In our experiment a larger request was evaluated. Passersby, 53 men and 67 women, were asked by two confederates to look after a large and very excited dog for 10 minutes because each wanted to go into a pharmacy where animals were prohibited. In half of the cases, subjects were touched during the request. Analysis showed that, when touched, 55% of the subjects agreed with the request whereas 35% only in the no-touch control condition agreed. This finding indicates that touch was positively associated with the subjects' compliance (p<.03).     

事故驾驶员与安全驾驶员人格特征的比较研究

本研究采用柳井晴夫等人编制的新性格检查问卷,对６０名公交车驾驶员的人格特征进行了测量．结果表明：（１）事故组驾驶员与安全组驾驶员在五个人格特征上存在显著性差异,其中事故组驾驶员攻击性、神经质倾向较强,而持久性、协调性和同情性较差．（２）男性事故组驾驶员与安全组驾驶员在四个人格特征上存在显著性差异,其中事故组驾驶员攻击性和神经质倾向较强,但持久性和协调性较差。（３）女性事故组驾驶员与安全组驾驶员在两个人格特征上存在显著性差异,前者较后者攻击性强,但缺乏同情性．（４）性别在１２项人格特征上无显著性差异．本研究结果可为设计制定专门应用于交通领域的人格测验,以及对驾驶员的选拔、培训、教育和管理提供一定的理论依据．     

The Effect of Pedestrian Clothing in 18,000 Road-Crossing Episodes

A confederate dressed in either smart or unkempt clothing made 18,000 attempts to cross the road at legally designated crossing points. Consistent with their statutory obligation, drivers were more likely to stop than not stop for the confederate, irrespective of the latter's clothing. However, the findings reflected those of previous studies showing that drivers were more likely to stop when the confederate was dressed smartly.     

Low-ball and compliance to a request: an application in a field setting

The low-ball refers to a compliance technique in which a demand of someone to agree to a request is followed by telling the person the real cost of the request. The number of people who maintain their first decision is larger than the number in the condition in which the real cost of the request is stated prior to the initial compliance. Researches in this paradigm traditionally included a request addressed by a professor to students but was never tested between strangers. So, an experiment was carried out in which people were solicited to keep a dog (8 kg) on a lead until a male confederate returned from a visit to someone in a hospital. In low-ball condition, the confederate told the subject who agreed to the request that it would take 30 min., whereas in the control condition the confederate gave this information when stating his request. Analysis showed that low-ball technique leads people to maintain their first decision.     

Foot-in-the-door technique and reduction of driver’s aggressiveness: A field study

Research has reported that the foot-in-the-door technique is effective at increasing helping behavior. However, the effect of this technique on negative social behavior has never been examined. A field experiment was conducted to explore whether this technique could reduce aggressiveness. Drivers waiting at a traffic light were blocked by an experimental car. In the Foot-in-the-door condition, when the traffic light was red, a passerby confederate asked the driver for directions to a well-known store located in the area of the experiment. The confederate then thanked the driver and walked off in the direction indicated. In the control condition, no request was addressed to the car driver. When the traffic light turned green, the experimental car pretended to be blocked by an engine problem. The number of drivers who honked at the target car and the amount of time that elapsed before the drivers responded by honking their horns were the dependent variables. It was found that fewer drivers honked in the Foot-in-the-door condition and drivers who honked displayed their behavior later than those in the control condition. Self-perception theory was used to explain these results.     

The cold glow of success: Responses to social rejection as affected by attitude similarity between the rejected and chosen individuals

Studied the effects of attitudinal similarity between two males on reactions to social rejection by a female. Sixty-five male undergraduate students had met an attitudinally similar or dissimilar male confederate. Later a female confederate either chose or did not choose the male confederate as a work partner. Following that, measures designed to tap subjects affective state and self evaluations were administered. Two way interactions for affect and self evaluations (p < 0.01 and p 7lt; 0.05 respectively) indicate that, relative to a control group, only subjects whose similar male partner was chosen expressed unfavorable affect and self-evaluations. The relevance of these findings for the affective consequences of social comparison processes is discussed.     

Attribution of personal characteristics as a function of the degree of touch on initial contact and sex

The current study was designed to measure the effects of degree of touch on initial contact on interpersonal judgment. Subjects (60 male and 60 female) reporting for an experiment on interpersonal judgment were met by the experimenter and another subject. The second subject was in fact a confederate. As the subjects were introduced, the confederate responded in one of three ways: a nod of the head (no touch); a firm handshake; or a firm handshake accompanied by a squeeze on the subject's right upper arm by the confederate's left hand. Half of the subjects met a male and half met a female confederate. Subjects were then placed in separate cubicles and asked to complete the Byrne interpersonal judgment questionnaire about the person they had just briefly met. This scale has six items (intelligence, knowledge of current events, morality, personal feelings, participation in experiments, and adjustment) for same-sex pairs and four additional items for opposite-sex pairs (dating, marriage, physical and sexual attraction). The results indicated that the variations in the type of initial contact between subject and confederate resulted in several significantly different interpersonal judgments. Of particular interest was the finding that a male confederate greeting a female subject was viewed as a more acceptable marriage partner the more touch was invoved in the initial contact. A female confederate greeting a male subject was viewed as a less acceptable marriage partner the more touch that was involved. The degree of touch also affected judgments of knowledge of current events, adjustment, dating, and physical attraction. Typically, the more touch, the higher the rating for the male confederate, whereas the female confederate was typically rated highest on the nod or handshake plus the additional touch to the arm, and least when she simply shook hands. The relevance of these findings to first impressions and role stereotyping are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Western Psychological Convention, Sacramento, 1975.This study was supported in part by a faculty research grant from the University of San Francisco.     

Neuroticism in Marriage: II. The Incidence of Neuroticism (Continued)

Abstract

The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate whether men are more aggressive when disappointed by a woman whom they like rather than dislike. First, 78 men, 19 to 24 years of age, were recruited by using a newspaper advertisement. They were then placed in one of the two conditions: They were confronted by a female confederate that they either liked or did not like; they then received either positive or negative personal evaluations by the particular confederate in relation to prose-reading tasks. Dependent measures on blood pressure, use of bogus electric shock on a person, and evaluation of the confederate were taken as measures of aggression. The following predictions were made: (a) Negative evaluations by the liked confederate would result in more aggression than by either a disliked confederate or by a liked confederate giving a positive evaluation, and (b) subjects would be more aggressive when the female confederate gave them a negative rather than a positive evaluation or when she was disliked rather than liked. Predictions were supported on all the measures of aggression.     

Stereotypic explanatory bias: Implicit stereotyping as a predictor of discrimination

Two experiments examined whether a measure of implicit stereotyping based on the tendency to explain Black stereotype-incongruent events more often than Black stereotype-congruent events (Stereotypic Explanatory Bias or SEB) is predictive of behavior toward a partner in an interracial interaction. In Experiment 1 SEB predicted White males’ choice to ask stereotypic questions of a Black female (but not a White male or White female) in an interview. In Experiment 2 the type of explanation (internal or external attribution) made for stereotype-inconsistency was examined. Results showed that White participants who made internal attributions for Black stereotype-incongruent behavior were rated more positively and those who made external attributions were rated more negatively by a Black male confederate. These results point to the potential of implicit stereotyping as an important predictor of behavior in an interracial interaction.     

Women's hairstyle and men's behavior: A field experiment

Little research has examined the effect of women's hairstyles on people's behavior. In a field study, male and female passersby, walking alone in the street, were observed while walking behind a female‐confederate who dropped a glove and apparently was unaware of her loss. The confederate had long dark hair arranged in three different hairstyles: one with her hair falling naturally on her shoulders and her back, one with her hair tied in a ponytail, and one with her hair twisted in a bun. Results reported that the hairstyle had no effect on female passersby's helping behavior. However, it was found that the hairstyle influenced male passersby with men helping the confederate more readily when her hair fell naturally on her neck, shoulders and upper back.     

Gender Differences in Being Thanked for Performing a Favor

We examined gender differences in how one responds to being thanked for a favor. Using experimental passages, we manipulated who requested the favor and the manner in which the favor is asked. Male and female participants received a set of scenarios in which social status, gender and directness of the request were orthogonally varied. Although male and female participants had very similar perceptions of whether the favor was a command or not, male but not female participants, generated more accommodating and fewer non-accommodating acknowledgments when thanked. The effect was strongest when the request was made by a boss (relative to a peer), especially if the boss was male, and made the request in a direct manner. These data are consistent with the notion that, for males, more than so for females, interactions that make salient one’s dominance status is relevant to gender-identity, and is linguistically reflected in a basic social exchange.