Studied by 0 people
Psychology being investigated in Perry et al.
Interpersonal distance - distance between people in which they choose to not let people in, based on relationships with others
→ psychologists want to test other factors affecting interpersonal distance preference
Oxytocin - social hormones associated with empathy and helping behaviour as well as lack of cooperation and jaelousy
Empathy - ability to understand others feelings → shape how people process social cues (social salience)
Background
Scheele et al - administered oxytocin to males in monogamous relationships increased their preferred distance from an attractive female
Aim
Test differential effect of oxytocin (OT) on personal space preference in relation to a person’s empathy ability
Whether high empath would prefer closer distance and low empath would prefer higher distance
Methods and design
Laboratory experiment - University of Haifa
Mixed experimental design
Empathy level - independent measure design
Treatment - repeated measure design - counterbalance
Experiment 1 - 3rd IV ‘condition’ - repeated measure
Individual variables (IVs)
Empathy score - self-report named High Interpersonal Reactivity (IRI) → High: 20 with scores >= 40; Low: 20 with scores < 33
Treatment - OT and Placebo/saline (solution with no clinical effect)
Condition (experiment 1)
DV: personal space requirement
EXP1: preferred distance measured between participant and approaching person/object
EXP2: preferred distance and angle between two chairs
Sample
54 male undergraduates from University of Haifa
mean age 25.3
participated for course credit, payment → volunteer sampling
normal vision
no psychiatric/ neurological disorders
General Procedure
OT administration - 250ml of intranasal OT or placebo saline solution → self-administered, double-blind techniques
Assessment of empathy - complete IRI online questionnaire
Procedure #EXP1
Comfortable Interpersonal Distance (CID) paradigm
Imagine themselves in the centre of the room with another person/object approaching
Press the spacebar when want to stop
Close friend, stranger, authority figure, ball → 24 trials for each, 96 total
Record the percentage of remaining distance
Procedure EXP#2
Told that they have to sit in a room with another participants to discuss personal topics + choose a room for the design → computerised stimuli
Experimental condition: preferred angles and distances between the chair (20-140cm) (0, 45, 90 degrees)
Control condition: distance and angles between plant and chair → to see if their personal distance is really determined by empathy and social interation or they just don’t like small spaces
Each was shown 84 pairs and repeated twice → 168
Shown 2s on computer screen
Materials
CID paradigm
Computerised pictures
Results #EXP1
Condition - participants prefer greater distance from those less known to them
Interaction effects treatment x empathy - decreases distance in high empath + increases distance in low empath → differential effects
Treatment x condition x empathy - stranger > authority > ball > friend → ball is an invitation to social interaction, a cue which is ENHANCED by OT in high empathisers
Results #EXP2
Differences in chair distances but not angles → high empath prefer closer chairs while low empath prefer further distance
Only treatment and empathy have interactional effects, not plants and tables → OT and empathy has no effect on choices for plants and tables => support social salience hypothesis that OT does not affect overal distance preferences but only those with social contexts (not for overall objects but only for those that SUGGEST potential interaction)
Conclusion
administration of OT enhances social cues in opposite ways for people with different empathy level → support the idea of social salience
low empath prefer more distance on OT
high empath prefer less distance on OT
confirm previous study about the relationship between people and distances
Generalisability
54 males in university of haifa
→ males are socialised differently than females in terms of intimacy
→ all of them came from same education background as people from working class might be more familiar with interacting with authority and strangers
Reliability
Laboratory with highly standardised procedure - computer project images for consistent 2 seconds
Objective, quantitative measures
Application
Enhance patient - provider communication by acknowledging the vary empathy levels in patient and how to create a comfortable environment for them
Personalizing treatments
Validity
Low mundane realism and ecological validity (hypothetical context)
Reduced demand characteristics by counterbalancing
Reduced researcher bias
Random allocation → reducing risks of systematic differences → internal validity
Ethics
Deception before task 2
May cause psychological harm
Individual vs Situational
Dynamic interaction between the two
Individual - empathy level
Situational - OT, type of approaching figures
Nature vs Nurture
Examining how a biological factor (oxytocin) interacts with a psychological trait (empathy) that may be influenced by both genetics and environment.
→ interactionist perspective
Reductionism vs holism
Reductionist element: focus on a single hormones and its effects
Holistic: all factors such as empathy and conditions
