Question

Article Summary: Through the act of touching someone, we communicate a variety of intentions, ranging from love or sexual desire to dominance or aggression. The authors of the study review results of previous research on interpersonal touch, showing, for example, that an innocuous touch of another person can have positive effects, such as increasing ratings of liking a person. There also appear to be differences both in the way that males and females touch one another and in how they respond to being touched. In the present study, the effects of interpersonal touch were examined in a natural setting: a restaurant. Male and female diners were administered either no touch or one of two kinds of touches, by a waitress immediately before the customers left their tip. The diners were touched briefly either on the hand or on the shoulder during the change-returning transaction. The authors speculated that a touch on the shoulder, which often signals dominance, may be viewed less favorable, especially by male diners, than a touch on the hand. The effects of interpersonal touch were assessed both by measuring the size of the gratuity (tip percentage) and by the results of a brief written survey asking the customers about their dining experience. Most of the data were obtained at one restaurant and by one waitress who was blind to (unaware of the research hypothesis. The waitress randomly assigned diners to the experimental conditions after she had collected the money but before she returned the change. The touch was administered at the time the change was returned to the diner. After returning the change, the waitress also asked the customers to complete a restaurant survey and leave it in a sealed envelope on the table. The statistical analysis revealed that the average percentage tip differed significantly as a function of touch. Specifically, although the mean tip in the Shoulder Touch condition (M = 14.4) did not differ from the mean tip obtained in the Hand Touch condition (M = 16.7), these two touch conditions did result in larger average tips than did the No Touch condition (M = 12.2). In addition, the authors reported that male diners tipped significantly more on the average than did female diners (means of 15.3 and 12.6, respectively). When the results of the survey were analyzed, the only significant finding was that males rated their restaurant experience more positively than did females; there were no effects of the touch manipulation on the survey results. The authors suggested that the failure to find a difference between the two kinds of touches, especially for male diners, was possibly due to the fact that the diners in this setting felt secure in their role and viewed the shoulder touch "benevolently." Several reasons were given to explain why an effect of touch was not observed on the restaurant survey. These included the possibility that the effect of touch is short- lived (and had diminished by the time customers filled out the survey). Nevertheless, the results did show that interpersonal touch had a positive, even if fleeting, effect on behavior. The possibility was raised that the effect may be "subliminal." that is, that the diners were not really aware that they had been touched.

Answer 1

5. The levels of the first independent variable is shoulder touch, hand touch and no touch. The levels of the second independent variable is male and female.

6. The first independent variable was operationally defined as a brief touch during the change returning transaction. The second independent variable was operationally defined as the diner being identified as male or female.

7. The two dependent variables were gratuity size and dining experience.

8. The first independent variable was operationally defined as the percentage of tip left by the diner. The second independent variable was operationally defined as the results of a survey.