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Full-Text Articles in Cognitive Psychology
Come Closer: Cognitive Dissonance Between Strangers, Melissa Bond, Connie Shears
Come Closer: Cognitive Dissonance Between Strangers, Melissa Bond, Connie Shears
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
Whether it’s reacting to unwanted invasion of our personal space (Khan & Kamal, 2010) or creating interpersonal warmth using physical touch (Williams & Bargh, 2008), our interactions with others affect us every day. But how will you feel toward a stranger that you voluntarily let invade your personal space? Cognitive dissonance states that our behaviors will dictate our attitudes instead of the other way around (Festinger, 1957) and is typically studied within an individual. The current study investigates cognitive dissonance between two people. To test the hypothesis that physical touch would change two strangers’ perception of “closeness,” we manipulated three …