Reach out and reduce prejudice: The impact of interpersonal touch on intergroup liking

Seger, Charles, Smith, Eliot, Percy, Elise and Conrey, Frederica (2014) Reach out and reduce prejudice: The impact of interpersonal touch on intergroup liking. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 36 (1). pp. 51-58. ISSN 1532-4834

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Abstract

A brief, casual interpersonal touch results in positive behavior toward the toucher, presumably because touch is a cue to friendship. Research on intergroup contact shows that feelings of friendship toward an individual outgroup member reduce prejudice toward that entire group. Integrating these areas, we examined whether interpersonal touch by an outgroup member could reduce prejudice. In three replications in two studies, interpersonal touch decreased implicit, though not explicit, prejudice toward the toucher's group. Effects of interpersonal touch can extend beyond the toucher to others sharing the toucher's ethnicity, and findings suggest that such effects are automatic and outside conscious awareness.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Social Cognition Research Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	10 May 2016 13:00
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 01:07
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58628
DOI:	10.1080/01973533.2013.856786

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