Need for Touch

Need for Touch

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

Individual differences in how much people prefer to take in information through touch.

What it is

Peck and Childers built a 12-item scale in 2003 with two dimensions, instrumental (touch tied to a purpose such as judging a product) and autotelic (touch enjoyed for the experience itself). Their tests supported the scale's structure, reliability and validity, and showed that people differ in how readily they draw on touch information.

In effect

The article on squishy fidget toys draws on it, where the autotelic dimension describes touch enjoyed with no product to judge.

What it does not say

The scale measures a preference for touch information, mostly in shopping settings. It does not say that people low on the scale dislike touch or that the scale predicts the use of fidget objects.

Sources

  1. Peck, J., & Childers, T. L. (2003). Individual differences in haptic information processing: The need for touch scale. Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3), 430-442.