Arm Signalstary bond between two people. When we replicated this exper-
iment for a television programme, we found the coin return
rate varied from culture to culture depending on what the
normal touch frequency was in a particular place. For
example, with elbow touching, the coin was returned by 72%
of Australians, 70% of English, 85% of Germans, 50% of
French and 22% of Italians. This result shows how the elbow
touch works better in places where frequent touching is not the
cultural norm. We have recorded the touch frequencies
between people in outdoor cafes in many of the countries we
regularly visit and noted 220 touches an hour in Rome, 142 per
hour in Paris, 25 touches an hour in Sydney, 4 per hour in New
York and 0 per hour in London. This confirms that the more
British or German your heritage, the less likely you are to
touch others and, therefore, the more successful an elbow
touch will be on you.If you're of German or British origin,
you're an easier touch than everyone else.Overall, we found that women were four times more likely to
touch another woman than was a man to touch another man.
In many places, touching a stranger above or below the elbow
did not produce the same positive results as with directly
touching the elbow and often received negative reactions.
Touching for more than three seconds also received a negative
response, with the person suddenly looking down at your
hand to see what you are doing.
Touch their Hand Too
Another study involved librarians who, as they issued a book
to a borrower, lightly brushed the hand of the person borrow-
ing the book. Outside the library, the borrowers were surveyed
and asked questions about their impressions of the service the