Touch, compliance, and awareness of tactile contact (Publication with Expression of Concern. See vol. 130, pg. 1347, 2023) (Publication with Expression of Concern. See vol. 130, pg. 1347, 2023)

Many experimental studies have shown that touch increases compliance with a request; however, the difference between the effect of touch on compliance between participants who notice and those who do not notice such contact remains in question. An experiment was conducted in which a female confederate asked 368 female smokers to give her a cigarette. In the Touch condition, when making her request, the confederate slightly touched the participant on her forearm. Analysis showed the touch was associated with significantly higher compliance to the request, and a difference was evident in the Touch condition between subjects who had noticed the tactile contact and those who had not.