🔍

Perry's Research on Personal Space Dynamics

Apr 28, 2025

View transcript

Lecture Notes: Perry Study on Personal Space

Introduction

  • Re-upload due to technical issues.
  • Focus on Perry's study on personal space from a social psychology approach.
  • Relevant for the new psychology 9990 2024 syllabus.

Concept of Personal Space

  • Definition: Distance between two people that is comfortable for an individual.
  • Influenced by factors like empathy levels, relationship (friend, stranger, acquaintance).

Importance of Study Background

  • Crucial for exams as background questions have appeared recently.
  • March 2023 and October-November 2023 exams included questions on study backgrounds.

Interpersonal Distance Zones (Edward T. Hall, 1966)

  • Intimate Zone: Used by romantic partners or close family members.
  • Personal Zone: Everyday interactions; closer than social zone.
  • Social Zone: Formal interactions; requires louder voices and body movements.
  • Public Zone: Used in speeches or lectures, keeping a greater distance.

Psychological Concepts in Study

  • Oxytocin: A social hormone crucial for social bonding, also known as the "love hormone."
    • Differential effect based on empathy levels: promotes social bonding in high empathy; can lead to envy in low empathy.
  • Empathy: Understanding another's experience from their perspective.
  • Social Cues and Social Salience: Body language and expressions; importance of attention given to these cues.

Aim of the Study

  1. Investigate how oxytocin affects preferred interpersonal distance based on empathy levels.
  2. Test differential effects of oxytocin on personal space preference relative to empathy.

Study Design

  • Lab experiment: Conducted at the University of Haifa in Israel.
  • Includes self-report via an IRI online questionnaire for empathy assessment.
  • Two experiments with multiple IVs:
    • Experiment 1: Empathy, treatment (oxytocin/placebo), condition (different protagonists).
    • Experiment 2: Empathy, treatment, condition (chair positioning vs. table and plant positioning).

Sample

  • 54 male undergraduates, aged 19-32, from the University of Haifa.
  • Sample received course credit or payment.
  • Participants with normal or corrected vision.

Procedure

  • Counterbalancing: Experiments conducted one week apart, with order counterbalanced.
  • Oxytocin Administration: Double-blind technique to avoid bias.
  • Empathy Assessment: IRI questionnaire with 28 items, 5-point scale, covering four empathy aspects.
  • Experiment 1 (CID Paradigm): Measures approach-avoidance personal space preference using a computer simulation with different protagonists.
  • Experiment 2 (Choosing Rooms Experiment): Assesses intimacy-related personal space preferences by choosing room setups.

Results

  • Experiment 1: High empathy with oxytocin preferred closest distances; low empathy with oxytocin preferred furthest distances.
  • Experiment 2: Chair distance affected preferences, supporting social salience hypothesis.

Conclusion

  • Oxytocin enhances attention to social cues, but effects differ by empathy level.
  • Supports social salience hypothesis: oxytocin promotes closer distance in high empathy, greater distance in low empathy.

Evaluation and Debates

  • Nature vs. Nurture: Both aspects are involved; biological (oxytocin) and learned behaviors (proximity comfort).
  • Individual vs. Situational: Both factors play a role; individual differences (empathy levels) and situational factors (oxytocin administration).
  • Application: Implications for understanding preferences in personal space, particularly for individuals with low empathy.

Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Reliability: High due to standardized procedure and controls.
  • Validity: Enhanced by counterbalancing and deception; low ecological validity due to artificial settings.
  • Generalizability: Limited by small, homogenous sample (male, specific age group).
  • Data: Quantitative data allows for objective comparisons, but lacks qualitative insights.
  • Ethics: Informed consent, confidentiality, and debriefing observed; some deception involved.

Final Thoughts

  • Complex study due to multiple IVs and conditions.
  • Importance of understanding interaction effects of empathy and oxytocin.
  • Additional resources and detailed slides available upon request. Contact information provided for further queries.

Note: This summary is a distilled version of the lecture content to aid in study and review.

Full transcript