Perry et Al

Question 1

What is the aim of the study?

Answer 1

• To investigate how oxytocin affects preferred interpersonal distance for those scoring high or low on empathy traits.
• To test the social salience hypothesis and see whether administering oxytocin would cause people to feel social situations more deeply.

Question 2

What are the 4 interpersonal zones ?

Answer 2

1- Intimate distance
2- Personal distance
3- Social distance
4- Public distance

Question 3

Define empathy.

Answer 3

The ability to understand the thoughts, feelings and experiences of another.

Question 4

What are the 2 types of empathy?

Answer 4

1- Cognitive empathy (ability to determine another person’s emotional state)
2- Affective empathy (ability to ‘feel’ another person’s emotional state)

Question 5

What is the social hormone?

Answer 5

Oxytocin; a social hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter.
Usually plays a role in social bonding, childbirth and breastfeeding.

Question 6

What is the social salience hypothesis

Answer 6

Predicts that oxytocin increases attention to social cues and affects how person may process and respond to such cues.

Question 7

What was the research method?

Answer 7

Laboratory experiment.

Question 8

What was the experimental design?

Answer 8

• Independent measures: whether participants were in the low or high empathy group.
• Repeated measures: whether they have administered oxytocin or placebo treatment.

Question 9

State the IV.

Answer 9

1. Empathy levels : low or high
2. Treatment : oxytocin or placebo
3. Condition : stranger, friend, ball, authority

Question 10

State the DV.

Answer 10

Preferred interpersonal distance measured using the computerised version of comfortable interpersonal distance (CID)

Question 11

Describe the sample.

Answer 11

• Volunteer sample
• 56 undergraduates and staff from the university of Haifa.
• Aged 19-32
• Received either course credit or payment from participation.

Question 12

Describe the empathy test.

Answer 12

• 28-item self report questionnaire (IRI)
• 5 point likert scale
• 4 item subscales
• All relating to empathy

Question 13

Describe the treatment procedure.

Answer 13

• Participants came twice, a week apart.
• Randomly administered either the intranasal oxytocin or a sterile saline solution for the placebo.
• Self administered three drops to each nostril in presence of the experimenter.
• Would wait 45 minutes in waiting area for effects to show.

Question 14

Explain the CID experiment.

Answer 14

• The word (friend/stranger/ball/authority) appears on the screen for one second.
• A fixation point appears for. 0.5 seconds.
• Circular room and stick figure appear.
• Protagonist enters from 1 of 8 doors and starts to approach the stick figure.
• Participant presses the space bar when they don’t want the protagonist any closer.
• 96 trials total, 24 per protagonist, 3 per door.

Question 15

State the results.

Answer 15

• Oxytocin decreased the avg preferred distance for people with high empathy.
• Oxytocin increased the avg preferred distance for people with low empathy.

Question 16

What was the experimental design used in experiment 2?

Answer 16

Independent measures design.

Question 17

State the IVs.

Answer 17

• Empathy (high/low)
• Treatment (oxytocin/placebo)
• Condition (positioning of chairs)

Question 18

State the DVs.

Answer 18

• Average preferred distance of chairs in cm
• Average preferred angle of chairs in degrees

Question 19

Describe the procedure.

Answer 19

• Participants were told that after both experiments they would sit in pairs in the chosen room and discuss personal topics.
• They were how 84 pairs of rooms twice each.
• Only difference was the distance and angle of chairs.

Question 20

State results of experiment 2.

Answer 20

• People with high empathy chose chairs to be closer with oxytocin treatment.
• People with low empathy chose chairs to be closer with placebo treatment.

Question 21

State the conclusions.

Answer 21

• Oxytocin has an effect on the preferred interpersonal distances on people with higher empathy.
• Oxytocin effect changes based on the situation.