Running head: GREETING STRANGERS

The Effects of Greeting a Stranger and Their Likelihood of Greeting Others

Melben David, Zachary Tesh, Justin Potwin
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

GREETING STRANGERS

The Effects of Greeting a Stranger and Their Likelihood of Greeting Others

According to N. B. Allen & P. B. T. Badcock (2003), people react strongly to more
frequent negative social interactions with people. (as cited in Steger& Kashdan, 2009, p.1) If this
is true then positive interactions with people should cause people to be happier and more inclined
to be friendlier to others. In every social encounter with a stranger there are two possible
outcomes: to cooperate (engage in the conversation) or to deflect (lie, cheat, and so on).
(Macy, skvoretz, 1998, Vol. 63) If people engage in a positive social interaction anything as
simple as a smile can even save someone who is at high risk for suicide. (Simon, 2007, Vol. 164)
Method
Participants
Participants for this experiments were male and females of all ages and all races that are
located at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Participants will include about 100
people approximately fifty percent male, and fifty percent female. The participants are diverse
because the experiment will be at the maximum effect with demographic diversity. Greeting
different demographics might produce different reactions. Having diverse demographics of
participants showed what demographic groups were friendlier or more effected by a friendly
greeting. Participants also included the members of our team greeting random participants
around UNC Charlotte.
Measures
The measurements for the experiment consisted of tally marks divided into several
demographic categories including race, gender, and age 18-28. Tally marks were made for

GREETING STRANGERS

smiling back, saying some type of greeting back, and no reaction. Tally marks provided a fast
and easy way for the recorder to gather data for the experiment.
Procedures
The procedure of the experiment consisted of one person greeting an individual
(participant), then the recorder recorded their reaction. Next, another person walked by the
participant that was just greeted. The recorder recorded whether or not the participant greeted the
second person. This procedure repeated for about 100 participants.
Results
Gender
The gender category tested sixty-two males and thirty-eight females adding up to one
hundred total participants. As the testers approached each participant and greeted them, seventyseven percent of participants greeted the tester back. The total number of males greeting back
was forty-four participants and the total number of females greeting back was thirty-three. The
second factor of the experiment was observing how many participants would greet the next
person they see by having a second tester walk by that participant. For the second factor, thirtytwo percent of participants greeted the next person they saw after our tester greeted them.
Race
The racial category tested forty-eight white participants, thirty-four African-Americans,
and eighteen participants of all other races. Out of the seventy-seven participants who greeted the
tester back, thirty-nine were white, twenty-four were African-American, and fourteen were other
races. Thirty-nine out of forty-eight white participants greeted back, twenty-four out of thirty

GREETING STRANGERS

four African-Americans greeted back, and fourteen out of eighteen participants greeted back.
The second factor of the experiment was whether or not the participant would greet the next
person they saw. Out of the forty-eight white participants, only fourteen greeted the next person
they saw after being greeted. Eleven out of thirty-four African-Americans greeted the next
person they saw, and seven out of eighteen participants of other races greeted the next person.
Discussion
The experiment showed that greeting a person would not guarantee that they will greet
another person. This was shown by the low percentage of participants actually greeting another
person after being greeted themselves. People may be friendly back to the person who greeted
them as the experiment showed with seventy-seven percent of participants greeting back, but
only thirty-two percent of participants actually chose to show the initiative themselves. Some of
the limitations we faced were that we did not have a background history of the participants and
we did not interact with people on different days and at different times.
In conclusion, while greeting a person might make their day better, it will not assure that
they will try to brighten somebody elses day. Some cases will provide otherwise as about only a
third of people continue the greeting trend. Even though it is only thirty-two percent of people
greeting someone else because of their own initiative, without the original initiative, no one
would be greeted.

GREETING STRANGERS

References
Macy, M., Skvoretz, J. (1998, Oct 5). The evolution of trust and cooperation between strangers:
A computational model. American Sociological Association, 63(5), 638-660.
Steger, M., Kashdan, T. (2009, April). Depression and everyday social activity, belonging, and
well-being. National Institute of Health, 56 (2), 289-300.
Simon, R. (2007, May). Just a smile and a hello on the golden gate bridge. The American Journal
of Psychiatry, 164 (5), 720-721.

GREETING STRANGERS

Appendix A
Table A

Total Population
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Male

Female
Total sample population

Table B

Sample Ethnicity
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
White

Black

Other

GREETING STRANGERS

Table C

Greeted Back The First Person

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Males

Females
Greeted Back The First Person

Table D

Ethnicity
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
White

Black
Ethnicity

Other

GREETING STRANGERS

Table E

Greeted The Second Person

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Male

Female

Total

Greeted The Second Person

Table F

Ethnicity
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
White

Black
Ethnicity

Other