Reach Out and Reduce Prejudice: The Impact of Interpersonal Touch on Intergroup Liking

Publication Year
2014

Type

Journal Article
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.

Journal
Basic and Applied Social Psychology
Volume
36
Pages
51–58
Type of Article
Journal Article
Full text

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Type of Prejudice/Bias
Country
Method