Interpersonal Distance Study (Perry et al., 2015)

The physical space people prefer to maintain between themselves and others. It varies based on relationships, cultural norms, and personal factors.

A hormone involved in social bonding, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It promotes prosocial behaviors but can also lead to envy or hostility towards strangers.

Understanding and sharing the feelings of others. Includes cognitive empathy (recognizing emotions) and affective empathy (feeling what others feel).

The four zones of interpersonal distance according to Hall (1966): intimate, personal, social, and public distances.

The attention-grabbing nature of social cues, like those related to interpersonal distance. It's influenced by oxytocin.

The way empathy influences our perception of interpersonal distance, shaping our social interactions.

The study focusing on how oxytocin affects people's preferred interpersonal distances in relation to empathy levels.

The tendency to avoid risks or uncertainties, potentially influenced by oxytocin levels.

A type of independent variable that is measured between different groups of participants (e.g., high empathy vs low empathy).

A type of independent variable that is measured within the same group of participants (e.g., oxytocin vs placebo).

A task used to measure interpersonal distance preferences, in which participants stop an approaching figure at a comfortable distance.

A control condition in the study designed to assess whether participants' preferences for space are influenced by a general preference for space or specific to interpersonal distance.

An experimental condition that manipulates the distance between chairs in a virtual room to investigate how oxytocin and empathy affect interpersonal distance preferences.

A condition where participants are asked to create a room layout for a personal conversation with another person, reflecting their preferences for interpersonal distance.

The mean average preferred distance between furniture items in the 'Choosing Rooms' task, particularly between chairs, which represents preferred interpersonal distance.

The mean average preferred angle between furniture items in the 'Choosing Rooms' task, particularly between chairs, which can subtly influence social interaction.

A variable that can be manipulated to influence the dependent variable (e.g., oxytocin or placebo).

The variable that is being measured in an experiment to assess the effects of the independent variable (e.g., interpersonal distance preferences).

A research design that aims to control for the effects of bias by ensuring neither the participants nor the researchers know which treatment is being administered.

A task in which participants are shown pairs of virtual rooms and asked to choose their preferred room for an anticipated future conversation about personal topics.

Oxytocin's influence on preferred interpersonal distance depends on the level of empathy.

Oxytocin's effects on preferred distance are specific to social interactions.

Highly empathic people prefer closer distances when given oxytocin.

Low empathy people prefer greater distances when given oxytocin.

The study found that oxytocin had a significant effect on preferred distances only when interacting with another person, not with inanimate objects.

The hypothesis that oxytocin enhances the perception of social cues, leading to different outcomes based on individual traits and context.

Participants in the study preferred closer distances with oxytocin when interacting with a ball.

A research design where neither the participants nor the researchers know who receives the treatment or placebo.

The experimental design used in the Perry et al. study, eliminating bias in treatment allocation.

The control condition in the study where participants received no oxytocin.

The condition where participants received oxytocin in the study.

The amygdala is a brain structure crucial for processing emotions and regulating interpersonal distance. Higher amygdala activity is linked to discomfort with close proximity, while damage to the amygdala may lead to decreased need for personal space.

Oxytocin is a hormone associated with social bonding and trust. While often seen as 'pro-social', it actually amplifies the emotional significance of social cues, leading to context-dependent effects on behavior.

The Perry et al. (2015) study investigated the interplay between oxytocin, empathy, and interpersonal distance. It aimed to determine how oxytocin affects preferred distances, whether empathy influences this effect, and how these interactions vary across social contexts.

The study involved two experiments with the same participants, testing both oxytocin and placebo conditions in a counterbalanced order. This design ensured that each participant served as their own control, allowing researchers to compare their behavior under both conditions.

Participants underwent two visits, one week apart, self-administering either oxytocin or placebo. After a 45-minute stabilization period, they completed experiments to measure preferred interpersonal distance.

The study used a convenience sample of 54 undergraduate male students, recruited at the University of Haifa. They were paid for their time and had normal or corrected-to-normal vision. All participants were divided into high and low empathy groups based on their scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.

The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used to measure empathy levels. Participants belonging to either the high or low empathy group, based on their IRI scores, were then tested for their preferred interpersonal distance.

Experiment 1 measured preferred interpersonal distance using a computer animation called the CID paradigm. The animation showed a stick figure moving towards participants, who indicated their preferred distance by pressing the spacebar.

The CID paradigm involved animating a stick figure (protagonist) moving towards a participant in a virtual room. Participants could stop the protagonist at their preferred distance, which was measured as a percentage of the total distance.

The CID paradigm presented participants with four different subjects: a stranger, an authority figure, a friend, and an object (a ball). This allowed researchers to explore whether preferred distance varied across different social contexts.

Experiment 2 involved a similar procedure to Experiment 1, but participants were asked to judge the emotional intensity of facial expressions. This experiment aimed to assess how oxytocin affects emotional responsiveness to social cues.

By understanding how oxytocin, empathy, and social contexts interact, researchers can gain valuable insights into the biological and psychological factors influencing social behavior. This knowledge could lead to better understanding and treatment of social disorders, and improve interpersonal interactions in general.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Perry et al. hypothesized that oxytocin would decrease preferred interpersonal distance in empathetic individuals, but increase it in those with lower empathy levels.

A chemical messenger influencing social bonds, childbirth, and breastfeeding. It also enhances feelings of trust and generosity, especially towards familiar individuals.

The ability to understand and share the feelings of others. It comprises cognitive empathy (detecting emotions) and affective empathy (feeling what others feel).

The dynamic interaction between individual traits (e.g., empathy) and situational factors (e.g., oxytocin) that influences complex social behaviors, like interpersonal distance preferences.

The physical space people prefer to maintain between themselves and others. It varies based on relationships, cultural norms, and personal factors.

The tendency to avoid risks or uncertainties, potentially influenced by oxytocin levels.

The study by Perry et al. (2015) investigated the influence of oxytocin on interpersonal distance preferences. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either oxytocin or a placebo, and their preferred distances to a approaching figure were measured.

The study reveals that the impact of oxytocin on personal space preferences depends on both existing empathy levels and the context of the situation.

One ethical issue in Perry et al.'s study is the potential for deception. Participants were told they were receiving a nasal spray to improve their cognitive performance, but they were actually receiving oxytocin or a placebo. Additionally, privacy is a concern as the study involved measuring interpersonal distance, which could be considered sensitive information.

The study's use of a computerized task to measure interpersonal distance preferences has its strengths and limitations. It enabled researchers to standardize the procedure, ensuring consistency in measurement across participants. However, the task may not fully reflect real-world interactions, as humans are more complex than computer algorithms.

This study demonstrates how oxytocin, a biological factor, interacts with empathy, a psychological trait, to influence social behavior. This suggests that nature and nurture contribute to shaping complex behaviors such as interpersonal distance preferences.

The phenomenon where individuals are influenced by their expectations about the study's purpose, potentially altering their behavior.

A method used to ensure that participants are assigned to different groups (e.g., treatment vs. control) randomly, reducing the risk of bias between groups.

The extent to which the findings of a study can be applied to other settings, populations, and situations.

A research design where each participant is exposed to all conditions of the study, serving as their own control.

An approach to research where objective, standardized, and quantifiable methods are used to collect data, minimizing subjective interpretations and bias.

The extent to which a study accurately reflects real-world situations, incorporating the complexity and natural context of human behaviors.

A type of bias where the experimenter's expectations or actions influence the outcome of the study, potentially skewing results.

The time gap between testing sessions to ensure that the effects of the previous session have dissipated before participants complete the next session.

The potential for participants to experience negative emotional consequences due to deceptive practices or the content of the study, violating ethical guidelines.

The level of agreement or consistency between the results of different studies using similar methods, offering a higher degree of confidence in the findings.

A situation where participants are misled about the true purpose of the study, potentially affecting their behavior and responses.

The practice of informing participants about the true nature of the study after completion, addressing any potential ethical concerns and providing clarification about the research.