Prosocial Behavior as Affected by Eye Contact, Touch, and Voice Expression

Summary

Eighty-one women and 79 men who were walking on a college campus were interviewed by a confederate (C) who either engaged in frequent eye contract or did not look at the S, touched or did not touch the S, and spoke in either a natural, warm, expressive tone of voice or spoke with a flat, nonexpressive voice. At the completion of the interview, the C dropped several folded questionnaires. Greater helping behavior occurred when the C used an expressive voice rather than a flat voice. An interaction effect was obtained for the eye and touch conditions, with high levels of helping for eye contact/no touch and no eye contact/touch, and low levels of helping for no eye contact/no touch and eye contact/touch.