Oxtocin and Interpersonal Distance: Empathy Modulation (SC AN 2015)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, methods, findings, and limitations from the study on oxytocin’s differential effects on interpersonal distance as moderated by empathy.

Interpersonal distance

The space between people that shapes social interactions; Hall’s four zones are intimate, personal, social, and public; oxytocin and empathy can influence preferred distance.

Oxytocin (OT)

A neuropeptide acting as a social hormone that can alter the perceptual salience of social cues; its effects on behavior depend on context and individual differences.

Social salience hypothesis

OT increases attention to social cues, leading to downstream cognitive/behavioral effects that vary by social context and individual traits.

Empathy

The capacity to react to the observed experiences of others; includes cognitive and emotional components; measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)

A 28-item self-report measure of empathy with four subscales: perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress, and fantasy; used to classify participants by empathy level.

CID paradigm (Comfortable Interpersonal Distance)

A computer-animated approach-avoidance task where a protagonist approaches the participant and the participant marks the preferred stopping distance.

CID protagonists

The approaching figures: stranger, friend, authority figure, and a rolling ball; used to test how OT and empathy affect distance to different social targets.

Choosing rooms paradigm

Participants choose between two computer-generated rooms that differ in social-distance cues (chairs distance, table-plant distance, chair angles) to predict intimate-context distance preferences.

High empathy group

Participants with high IRI scores (e.g., IRI ≥ 40); in the study, OT led to closer distances to others compared with placebo.

Low empathy group

Participants with low IRI scores (e.g., IRI ≤ 33); in the study, OT led to farther distances from others compared with placebo.

CID results under OT (high empathy)

OT reduced the distance from self to other in highly empathic individuals (e.g., self-to-friend/authority/stranger distances shortened under OT).

CID results under OT (low empathy)

OT increased the distance from self to other in less empathic individuals (greater preferred distance under OT).

Three-way interaction (treatment × empathy × condition)

A significant interaction showing that OT’s effect depends on empathy level and the social context/protagonist.

Choosing rooms results (OT × empathy)

OT effects were found in the chairs (social distance) condition but not in the tables condition; high empathy showed closer chairs with OT; low empathy showed no clear effect.

Correlation between CID PL and choosing rooms PL

A moderate positive correlation (r = 0.278, P < 0.05) indicating related but distinct interpersonal-distance measures.

Limitations

Male-only sample due to IRB restrictions; some effects were marginal (second-order interactions); ecological validity and generalizability to females or real-life settings are limited.