A Little of that Human Touch - Does a Touch Enhance the Feeling of General Belongingness and Increase the Chance of Helping the Out-group?
(2015) PSYP01 20151Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Physical interaction between humans in the form of touching is associated with positive outcomes. It has a promotional influence on well-being, compliance and helping behaviour. Based on the notion that the universal need to belong could be satisfied with a touch, this study explored the question, if one brief touch on the shoulder could enhance the feeling of general belongingness. It was also hypothesised that being touched and a greater feeling of belonging would lead to more helping behaviour towards the out-group. Moreover, it was examined how personality and the feeling of belongingness interact. In total 73 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (touch vs. no touch). The obtained results did not support the... (More)
- Physical interaction between humans in the form of touching is associated with positive outcomes. It has a promotional influence on well-being, compliance and helping behaviour. Based on the notion that the universal need to belong could be satisfied with a touch, this study explored the question, if one brief touch on the shoulder could enhance the feeling of general belongingness. It was also hypothesised that being touched and a greater feeling of belonging would lead to more helping behaviour towards the out-group. Moreover, it was examined how personality and the feeling of belongingness interact. In total 73 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (touch vs. no touch). The obtained results did not support the hypotheses. General belongingness was not enhanced by a touch and being touched did not increase the likelihood of helping the out-group. Furthermore, personality traits were partly related to general belongingness. A higher score on Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness were associated with a higher belongingness score. Implications of the results are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/7370452
- author
- Stadler, Tobias LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20151
- year
- 2015
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- general belongingness, touch, physical interaction, personality, donation, Need to Belong, self-categorization theory, helping behaviour, out-group
- language
- English
- id
- 7370452
- date added to LUP
- 2015-07-23 13:19:25
- date last changed
- 2015-07-23 13:19:25
@misc{7370452,
abstract = {{Physical interaction between humans in the form of touching is associated with positive outcomes. It has a promotional influence on well-being, compliance and helping behaviour. Based on the notion that the universal need to belong could be satisfied with a touch, this study explored the question, if one brief touch on the shoulder could enhance the feeling of general belongingness. It was also hypothesised that being touched and a greater feeling of belonging would lead to more helping behaviour towards the out-group. Moreover, it was examined how personality and the feeling of belongingness interact. In total 73 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (touch vs. no touch). The obtained results did not support the hypotheses. General belongingness was not enhanced by a touch and being touched did not increase the likelihood of helping the out-group. Furthermore, personality traits were partly related to general belongingness. A higher score on Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness were associated with a higher belongingness score. Implications of the results are discussed.}},
author = {{Stadler, Tobias}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A Little of that Human Touch - Does a Touch Enhance the Feeling of General Belongingness and Increase the Chance of Helping the Out-group?}},
year = {{2015}},
}