1. Touch, Trust, & Performance in a Group Activity Michael J. Baker & Dr. Kristin Beals California State University, Fullerton People share touch in a variety of ways and use touch to build trust and cooperation in relationships (Hertenstein, et al. 2006). Shared Mental Models, or SMM (Gershgoren, et al. 2013) shows trust in group activity is developed by verbal and nonverbal forms of communication, but does not include touch. Touch during group activities is a way to predicted group performance (Kraus, Huang, & Keltner, 2010). Hypotheses Touch can communicate trust and it is essential to collaboration in group tasks, therefore it is hypothesized: I. That participants in the experimental group (who touch more) will have greater trust for their peers than those in the control. II. That participants in the touch group will perform better on the group activity. INTRODUCTION DESCRIPTIVES CONCLUSIONS I would like to thank Drs. Melinda Blackman and Kristin Beals for their valuable input and use of their wonderful students as participants. I would also like to thank volunteer members of PDSA, CSUF for being such great assistants RESULTS Reliability test on the trust scale showed a Cranach's α of.819. Touch in the control (M=.06, SD =.24). Touch in the Experiment (M = 8, SD = 3.4) a significant difference (p<.001). Control trust M = 3.77, SD =.626 and experimental trust M = 4.20, SD =.586. Independent samples t-test found that participants in the experimental group did trust others in their group significantly more than the control, t (36) = -2.146, p =.039. Control group time M ≈ 3minutes, 20 seconds, SD ≈ 55 seconds. Experimental group time M ≈ 3minutes, 31 seconds, SD ≈ 47 seconds. No significant difference in time on the ball moving task was found, t (36) = -.683, p =.499. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS METHOD Participants 38 upper division college students (50% male). Mean age = 22.71 (SD = 4.7) and year in college 3.50 (SD =.507). 31.6% Hispanic/Latino, 28.9% White/non-Hispanic, 28.9% Asian/Pacific Islander, 10.5% Multi-race/ethnicity, or Other. Procedures Participants in the experimental group were encouraged to touch throughout the activity, while those in the control were not. Each group transported a ball from one side of the room to the other. Groups were given one less half-pipe than the number of people which were held side by side so that the ball could roll across to the opposite end of the 60’ room. Filming of the experiment was used confidentially to code touch. Groups took a trust survey immediately upon completion of the task. Measurements Trust was measured with an adapted form of The General Trust Scale (Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994) whereby participants were asked to write to what degree they disagree or agree to a statement. Performance was measured by : time of the task, the number holds, and the number of switching errors. Touch was following a procedure outlined in an established study (Kraus, Huang, & Keltner, 2010). TABLE OF INDEPENDENT SAMPLES t-TEST The results of this study underscore the importance of trust in small groups and the role touch plays in its development. Touch can be used to build trust in other groups including workplace cohorts, education, and sports. Strengths include: a controlled study with a reliable measurement for trust. Weaknesses include: small sample size of students, most of whom are from the same class. Possible to expand to include, age, gender, and ethnicity, as they are believed to be contributing factors in how touch is perceived and initiated (Smith, Willis, & Gier, 1980; Seger, Smith, Percy, & Conrey, 2014). Control Experimental Average Trust Time in Seconds 0 1 2 3 4 5 100 0 300 200 M no touch SD no touch M Touch SD Touch tdf p- value Trust3.77.634.2.59-2.1536.039 Time3m,20s55s3m,31s47-.6836.499 Holds23.24.1.312.6236.013 Switch errors 1.441.62.15.373.4936.001 References Gershgoren, L., Filho, E., Tenonbaum, G., & Schinke, R. J. (2013). Coaching shared mental models in soccer: A longitudinal case study. Journal Of Clinical Sport Psychology, 7(4), 293- 312. Hertenstein, M. J., Keltner, D., App, B., Bulleit, B. A., & Jaskolka, A. R. (2006). Touch communicates distinct emotions. Emotion, 6(3), 528-533. doi:10.1037/1528-3542.6.3.528 Kraus, M. W., Huang, C., & Keltner, D. (2010). Tactile communication, cooperation, and performance: An ethological study of the NBA. Emotion, 10(5), 745-749. doi:10.1037/a0019382 Seger, C. R., Smith, E. R., Percy, E., & Conrey, F. R. (2014). Reach out and reduce prejudice: The impact of interpersonal touch on intergroup liking. Basic And Applied Social Psychology, 36(1), 51-58. doi:10.1080/01973533.2013.856786 Smith, D. E., Willis, F. N., & Gier, J. A. (1980). Success and interpersonal touch in a competitive setting. Journal Of Nonverbal Behavior, 5(1), 26-34. doi:10.1007/BF00987052 Yamagishi, T., & Yamagishi, M. (1994). Trust and commitment in the United-States and Japan. Motivation and Emotion, 18(2), 129-166.