Reach Out and Reduce Prejudice: The Impact of Interpersonal Touch on Intergroup Liking Author Charles Seger, Eliot Smith, Elise Percy, Federica Invernizzi 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. Keywords friendship, ethnic bias, touch, cues, emotion, intergroup contact, outgroup, implicit bias, explicit prejudice Journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology Volume 36 Pages 51–58 Type of Article Journal Article URL External link to reference DOI 10.1080/01973533.2013.856786 Full text Open access via the link provided. Type of Prejudice/Bias Race/Ethnicity Country United States Method Lab Setting College/University Google ScholarDOIBibTeX