Perry et al (Personal Space) Flashcards
AIM:
🔹The aim was to test the differential effect of the social hormone oxytocin (OT) on personal space preference in relation to a person’s empathy ability.
🔹Perry et Al wanted to find out whether highly empathetic individuals would prefer closer distances while low empathetic individuals would prefer greater interpersonal distances when given oxytocin (OT).
SAMPLE:
🔹54 male undergraduates from the University of Haifa, aged 19-32 years (mean age 25.29), participated in this experiment for course credit or payment. All participants had normal vision and no history of psychological or neurological disorders.
🔹Participants were divided into two groups based on their scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a 28-item self-report measure with four 7-item subscales all relating to empathy.
🔹The High Interpersonal Reactivity group contained 20 participants with empathy scores greater than or equal to 40.
🔹The Low Interpersonal Reactivity group contained 20 participants with empathy scores below 33.
BACKGROUND:
Perry et Al were interested in investigating how people’s personal space preferences are affected by a few different factors. One of these is interpersonal distance; so, they measured people’s preferences for different social figures so they could compare how close people want to be to strangers or friends, for example. Perry et Al believed this preference could be influenced by the action of social hormones on individuals’ preferences, so they also looked at the effect of oxytocin.
PROCEDURE: 1
🔹Participants attended the university in order to complete Experiment 1 and then again, a week later on the same day and time to complete Experiment 2.
🔹OT administration
Participants were randomly administered a treatment of either a solution of 24 international units in 250 ml of intranasal OT or a placebo saline solution which did not contain the hormone. The nasal drops were self-administered by participants using a nasal dropper, under the supervision of the experimenter. The procedure used a double-blind technique; neither the participant nor experimenter knew whether the participant had received the OT or saline solution
🔹Assessment of empathy
After the solution was administered, participants completed the IRI online questionnaire. After completing this, participants were given nature magazines and waited in a quiet room for 45 minutes, to allow the oxytocin to be absorbed by the central nervous system and to keep any social interactions to a minimum.
The order of the experiments was counterbalanced, meaning that half the participants undertook OT for one week then saline the next week, and the other half first took saline on their first week and OT on their second.
PROCEDURE: 2
Experiment 1: The Comfortable Interpersonal Distance (CID) paradigm
This experiment used a modified version of an older, paper-based interpersonal space test known as the Comfortable Interpersonal Distance (CID) paradigm. A circle was presented on a computer screen and participants were instructed to imagine themselves in the centre of the room with another person approaching them along a radius. The participant had to indicate by pressing the keyboard space bar at the point along the radius where they would want the person to stop their approach. The computer animation had options for the imagined other to be one of the following conditions: a close friend, stranger, authority figure or a rolling ball.
The animation stopped when the figures collided or the participant pressed the space bar. There were 24 trials for each figure and 96 trials in total. The researchers recorded the percentage of remaining distance from the total distance
PROCEDURE: 3
Experiment 2: choosing rooms
Participants were told that after doing two runs of the experiment (placebo and OT) that they would be asked to sit in a room with another participant to discuss personal topics. Participants were informed they were going to be shown pairs of similar rooms and for each trial choose the one room they preferred. They were told that this information would be used to design a room according to their preferences.
The computerised stimuli were coloured pictures with two identical chairs in the middle, a table on one side, a cupboard, a plant, a lamp and a clock as shown in Figure 5.6. The experimental condition was preferred distance between chairs and consisted of the following stimuli:
🔹Distance between the chairs (20-140 cm (8-55 in) with intervals of 20 cm (8 in))
🔹Angle of the chairs positions (0°: both facing forwards, 45° each or 90°: facing each other)
The control condition was preferred distance between table and plant and consisted of the following stimen
🔹Distance between the table and the plant (200-320 cm (80-125 in) with intervals of 20 cm (8 in))
🔹Angle of the table and plant positions (0°: both facing forwards, 45° each or 90°: facing each other)
The experiment included 21 different pairs of chair distances, 21 different pairs of table-plant differences and three options for each pair of angles, repeated seven times to equal 21 pairs of comparative angles. Each participant was shown a total of 84 pairs, each repeated twice to equal 168 pairs overall.
The two picture sets were shown on a computer screen for 2 s and the participant had to select their preference. The mean preferred distance between chairs, between table and plant and the preferred angle for these furniture pairs was calculated.
RESEARCH METHOD:
The study was a laboratory experiment conducted at the University of Haifa. This means it took place in an artificial environment.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:
A mixed experimental design was used to allocate the participants.
VARIABLES:
RESULTS: 1
RESULTS: 2
CONCLUSION:
EVALUATION: (Strengths)
🔷 High Validity –
The order of experiments was counterbalanced to prevent order effects and extraneous variables were also controlled as social interaction after Oxytocin or saline administration was minimized through the use of the magazines and the waiting room.
🔷 High Reliability -
This study was a laboratory experiment with a highly standardised procedure. For example, the computer program projected the images of the room in Experiment 2 for a consistent 2 seconds each time. Likewise, the images were computer generated for maximum accuracy and consistency. This meant that the results were reliable; the experimental procedures could be repeated and expected to produce the same results.
EVALUATION: (Weaknesses)
🔷 Low ecological validity – lacks mundane realism
Participants were asked to judge their preferred distances using computer-generated images and to respond using keyboard, which meant that both the experiments lacked mundane realism and the study was also conducted in a lab which reduces the ecological validity of the findings. In everyday life, our choices about personal space are influenced by complex cues from others such as their facial expressions, tone of voice and gestures.
🔷 Low Generalizability
The sample was not very large, of just 54 participants who were all male, majority right handed, all from the same university in Israel, and as a result, the findings cannot be applied to females, or to people outside the university, or of other cultures as they are not represented in the sample. This reduces the generalizability of the study.
EVALUATION: (Ethical Issues)
🔷 The study was ethically strong as written, informed consent was obtained from participants. The study was approved by the University of Hafia’s ethics committee and The Hadassah Medical Centre, which was important for safeguarding the well-being of participants, researchers and the reputation of psychology.
🔷 Participants reported no side effects from the OT or placebo that was administered in a painless manner, meaning they were protected from physical harm.
🔺 The participants were deceived about the purpose of the task in Experiment 2, as no personal discussion ever took place. However, this deception was unlikely to cause them psychological distress.
🔷 Participants were fully debriefed after the study and informed and told of the aim of the study.
