title: Effects of modeling and topic stimulus on self-referent touching.
abstract: Self-touching is defined as self-directed touches, e.g., scratching or rubbing, that have no apparent conscious motivation. Earlier research on self-touching focused on internal processes associated with self-touching, e.g., mental conflict, while more recent research has considered external motivators, such as an auditory or visual presentation of a provocative stimulus, e.g., leeches. Here, 110 undergraduate psychology students (68 women, 42 men; M age = 18.7 yr., SD = 1.0) were shown a video about chiggers to replicate previous findings, while simultaneously studying the social influence of self-touching modeled by the presenter. A significant interaction was found as modeled self-touching significantly increased participants' self-touching when they were also attending to the video about chiggers. The results are discussed in terms of potential processes underlying this behavior and directions for research.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Counseling, Regent University. P.O. Box 495019, Mount Berry, GA 30149-5019, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan David
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Butzen
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bissonnette
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McBrayer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012653:Self Stimulation; D012931:Social Environment; D014110:Touch; D014324:Trombiculidae