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Original Article

Assessing Individual Differences in the Need for Interpersonal Touch and Need for Touch

Published Online:January 01, 2014https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000157

Abstract

The present study investigates individual differences in the automatic use of haptic information from interpersonal touch. We present a questionnaire assessing individual differences in the need for interpersonal touch (NFIPT), which was validated within an unrelated product-evaluation task. Before entering the laboratory, participants were briefly touched on the shoulder or received no touch. Assessing confidence and frustration within the following product-evaluation task, we examined moderating effects of NFIPT and additionally effects of need for touch (NFT). Results showed that higher NFIPT participants were more confident when they were briefly touched. Effects on frustration were only found for NFT. Results show that frustration was greater for individuals with higher NFT, when they could not touch the product during the evaluation task.

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