Perry et Al Flashcards
What is the aim of Perry’s study?
- 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.
What are the 4 interpersonal zones ?
1- Intimate distance
2- Personal distance
3- Social distance
4- Public distance
Define empathy.
The ability to understand the thoughts, feelings and experiences of another.
What are the 2 types of empathy?
1- Cognitive empathy (ability to determine another person’s emotional state)
2- Affective empathy (ability to ‘feel’ another person’s emotional state)
What is the social hormone?
Oxytocin; a social hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter.
Usually plays a role in social bonding, childbirth and breastfeeding.
What is the social salience hypothesis
Predicts that oxytocin increases attention to social cues and affects how person may process and respond to such cues.
What was the research method used in Perry’s study?
Laboratory experiment.
What was the experimental design of experiment 1in Perry’s study?
- Independent measures: whether participants were in the low or high empathy group.
- Repeated measures: whether they have administered oxytocin or placebo treatment.
State the IV of Perry’s study.
- Empathy levels : low or high
- Treatment : oxytocin or placebo
- Condition : stranger, friend, ball, authority
State the DV of experiment 1of Perry’s study.
Preferred interpersonal distance measured using the computerised version of comfortable interpersonal distance (CID)
Describe the sample in Perry’s study.
- Volunteer sample
- 56 undergraduates and staff from the university of Haifa.
- Aged 19-32
- Received either course credit or payment from participation.
Describe the empathy test used in Perry’s study.
- 28-item self report questionnaire (IRI)
- 5 point likert scale
- 4 item subscales
- All relating to empathy
Describe the treatment procedure in Perry’s study.
- 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.
Explain the CID experiment.
- 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.
State the results of Perry’s study.
- Oxytocin decreased the avg preferred distance for people with high empathy.
- Oxytocin increased the avg preferred distance for people with low empathy.
What was the experimental design used in experiment 2 in Perry’s study?
Independent measures design.
State the IVs of expirement 2 in Perry’s study.
- Empathy (high/low)
- Treatment (oxytocin/placebo)
- Condition (positioning of chairs)
State the DVs of experiment 2 in Perry’s study.
- Average preferred distance of chairs in cm
- Average preferred angle of chairs in degrees
Describe the procedure of experiment 2 in Perry’s study.
- 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.
State results of experiment 2 of Perry’s study.
- People with high empathy chose chairs to be closer with oxytocin treatment.
- People with low empathy chose chairs to be closer with placebo treatment.
State the conclusions of Perry’s study.
- Oxytocin has an effect on the preferred interpersonal distances on people with higher empathy.
- Oxytocin effect changes based on the situation.
