Perry et al. (personal space) Flashcards
4 types of personal zones
- Intimate zone
- close friends, lovers, family, children (0-50cm) - Personal zone
- conversations with friends, group discussions, chatting with associates (0.5-1m) - Social zone
- reserved for strangers, newly formed groups, new acquaintances (1-4m) - Public zone
- speeches, lectures, theatres, larger audience (4m or more)
Interpersonal distance
This signals responsiveness and feeling comfortable with the person/s next to us
Role of OT (oxytocin)
It’s the regulation of social behavior and social recognition in pro-social and approach behavior
What does interpersonal space correlate with
- levels of friendship
- attraction
- amygdala damage
Factors related to interpersonal distance
- high amygdala damage = low distance
- high OT = distance varies
- high friendship = low distance
- high attraction = low distance
- high social anxiety = high distance
- cultural differences = distance varies
What does OT depend on?
- OT doesn’t always promote approach behaviors
- OT depends on context and individual differences
- risk aversion
- envy
- lack of cooperation
Who are “in-group” and “out-group” members?
In-group members:
- people you trust/love
- you’re close with these people
- core group
Out-group members:
- people who you’re not as bonded with
- not core group
Social salience hypothesis
- Social salience = when a particular target draws attention of an observer/group
Hypothesis:
- mechanism underlying social effects of OT
- OT alters perceptual salience and/or processing ques
- OT alters the way you perceive and process environmental cues
- studies show different activation in amygdala regions
Predictions
- highly empathetic people prefer closer distances following OT administration
- less empathetic people show opposite effect as they prefer to maintain greater distance
- controlling for empathetic traits/reactivity to others = reveals effect of OT on interpersonal distance
2 experiments carried out - (experiment 1)
EXPERIMENT 1: CID (comfortable interpersonal distance)
- measured interpersonal distance preferences in approach-avoidance context
- Protagonists:
–> approaches pp standing in computer visualized room
–> pp asked to indicate where he likes for protagonist to stop - High validity:
–> previously tested on different sex + age groups
–>regulated using different protagonists
2 experiments carried out - (experiment 2)
EXPERIMENT 2: Choosing rooms
- measures interpersonal distance preferences in context of intimacy
- pps asked to choose which of several computer-visualized rooms they would later prefer to sit in to discuss intimate topics with another pp
- High predictive validity:
–> previously tested in lab (in preparation) and shown to significantly predict CID scores
ROOM 1, ROOM 2
Aim of this study
The study aims to investigate how OT administration influences interpersonal distance preferences in individuals with varying levels of empathy.
Psychology being investigated
Interpersonal distance:
- refers to the physical space between people during interactions.
Role of OT:
- how OT might alter social salience cues and how individuals process these cues based on empathic abilities
Empathy and social behavior:
- examines how different levels of empathy might influence pps responses to social cues
Sample
- 54 male pps
- age: 19-32 yrs
- mean age: 25.29 yrs
- undergraduates
- university of Haifa
- written consent given
- no history of psychiatric/neurological disorders
- Hadassah medical center’s ethics committee and ethics committee of University of Haifa gave approval
- participated in exchange for course credit/payment
- normal vision, normal pps
- 5 pps left-handed
- SD = 2.74
Ethics
- no physical side effects
observed in both groups - double blind study
- written consent
- signed informed consent
- OT administered
- pps visited twice - 1 week apart (same day, same time)
- drops applied with medical dropper
- 3 drops to each nostril
- random administration of either OT/saline
OT = 24 units in 250ml of intranasal (IN) OT - saline = sterile saline as placebo treatment
- self-administered but experimenter present
Assessment of empathy
- order of experiments was counterbalanced among pps
- IRI = 28 item self-report measure
- four 7 item sub-scales
- each taps different aspect of concept of empathy
- after solution is administered, online IRI questionnaire is completed
- after questionnaire, pps asked to wait 45 mins (ensure OT levels in nervous system reached plateau)
- in waiting period, pps sat in comfortable, quiet room
- given 3 issues of popular Israeli nature magazine to keep social interactions minimum
- after 45 mins, experiments began
What are the low and high scores of IRI?
- determined by half standard deviation from mean IRI
- mean = 36.25
- SD = 7.7
- high IRI scores = high empathy (IRI>40)
- N = 20
- mean age = 23
- SD = 2.5
- low IRI scores = low empathy (IRI<33)
- N = 20
- mean age = 25.9
- SD = 3
Experiment 1 - CID flowchart
- circle was presented
- pps instructed to imagine themselves in center of room
- pps respond to imaginary protagonist approaching them and mark where they stop in radius
- pps shown name of figure (friend, stranger, ball, etc - 1 sec)
- fixation point 0.5 sec
- pp shown still picture of circular room
- figure at center, approaching figure at 1 of 8 entrances
- 3 sec animation showing figure approaching circle center
- pps imagine themselves in center of room and respond to figure approaching them
- responded by pressing space bar indicating where to stop
- animation stopped after 3 sec when two figures collided, before pps pressed space bar
- each 4 figures appeared 3 times from each 8 radii
- 24 trials each figure, 96 trials total
- responses were computed as % of remaining distance from total distance
- 0 represented approaching figure reaching inner figure
- 100 represented approaching figure being stopped immediately
- OT promotes closer distances (high empathy)
- farther distance (lower empathy)
- OT has differential effect depending on protagonist
- promotes only closeness with known figures (friend/authority)
- doesn’t promote closeness with non-human figures (ball)
IV
- treatment = OT and PL (oxytocin and placebo)
- condition = stranger/friend/ authority figure, ball
- empathy = high or low
DV
- interpersonal distance
(% of the remaining distance from total distance)