Abstract
Frequency of intentional touching between legislators differing in political status was observed and recorded during legislative sessions on the floor of a Midwestern state’s house of representatives. On the basis of objective and subjective criteria of status rank, younger, lower status individuals were found to be more likely to initiate touching of a higher status conversational partner. These results are not consistent with implications of an earlier observational study of touching behavior. Reasons for the lack of agreement are offered.
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June Chance’s comments on an earlier draft of this paper are gratefully acknowledged.
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Goldstein, A.G., Jeffords, J. Status and touching behavior. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 17, 79–81 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333673