Personal space and personality characteristics: a non-confirmation.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Adult↗
SEARCH · PubMed Health
Results for “Personal Space”
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
An exploration of perception of body boundary, personal space, and body size in elderly persons.
A study of 108 elderly persons using the Body Distortion Questionnaire and the personal space simulation technique test did not support hypotheses that elderly persons with a large personal space will have a larger distortion of body boundary, a larger perception of large body size, a smaller perception of small body size, a larger distortion of body size, and a larger body distortion than elderly persons with a small personal space. The analyses with one-tail t tests showed elderly persons with a small personal space have a larger perception of large body size and a larger distortion of body size than elderly persons with a large personal space. When the extremes of personal space were used the results were the same. Males have a larger personal space and greater distortion of skin perceptions than females.
Aged↗
Invasions of personal space in demented and nondemented elderly persons.
Personal space has been a research issue in both social psychology and nursing in the past 20 years. In the context of behavioral and psychological signs and symptoms in dementia (BPSSD), however, personal space and other basic paradigms of social psychology sparsely play a role. In order to assess personal space in demented (n = 10) and nondemented (n = 10) elderly participants, we replicated the original study addressing personal space by Felipe and Sommer (1966). The two groups differed in the overall number of participants showing a specific reaction, in the mean duration until specific reactions occurred, and in the percentage of participants within a group showing a specific reaction at a given point in time. The argument is being made that such findings might reflect situational as well as disease-specific changes in the perception of and reactions to invasions of personal space in demented patients. We suggest that further research in that field could bring about more information on the nature of dementia, and especially BPSSD. Implications for therapy and care of dementia patients are being discussed.
Aged↗
Aggressiveness, maladjustment, body experience and the protective function of personal space.
Considering the view that personal space may serve to protect individuals from unpleasant feelings, preference for personal space was related in this study to psychological maladjustment, aggressiveness, and body experience (N = 100). The results indicated that individuals who tend to be maladjusted and individuals who tend to be aggressive preferred more personal space in face-to-face encounters in which the S was approached by a stranger. With regard to measures of body boundary experience, high Barrier scores were found to be related to preference for more personal space in face-to-face encounters in which the S approached a stranger. With regard to people's perception of the spatial dimensions of their bodies, the more individuals tended to underestimate the size of their bodies, the more personal space they tended to prefer. Results were regarded as generally congruent with the protection theory of the use of personal space.
Adaptation, Psychological↗
Personal space in schizophrenic patients.
BACKGROUND: Personal space is the area individuals maintain around themselves into which others cannot intrude without arousing discomfort. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to establish whether schizophrenic patients and mentally healthy adults differ in interpersonal distance preferences according to 1) mental health status 2) experimenter sex 3) approach direction and/or 4) type of disorder. SUBJECTS: 114 patients who met the ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia and 120 age and gender matching adults with no history of mental illness participated in the study. METHOD: Personal space was assessed using stop-distance technique. All subjects were approached by female and male experimenter from four directions. RESULTS: Personal space zone was significantly larger in the schizophrenic patients than in the comparison group. Subjects in both groups maintained larger interpersonal distances when approached by a male experimenter and when approached frontally. No significant difference in personal space preference was found between subjects manifesting paranoid and residual type of schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that schizophrenic patients, presumably due to their mental health, demonstrate a stronger need for personal space. These results are consistent with the protective function of personal space.
Adult↗
Stigmatizing artifacts and their effect on personal space.
Examining the relationship between personal space and a stigmatizing artifact, a white cane, with 58 randomly selected subjects indicated that significantly more personal space was accorded a person with an apparent visual impairment.
Adult↗
Personal space boundary needs of elderly persons: an empirical study.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Aged↗
Relation of personal space to the human menstrual cycle.
A behavioral measure of personal space was obtained from 84 female undergraduates who had completed a menstrual cycle questionnaire. They ranged in age from 17 to 27 years, with a mean age of 19.2 years. A significant relationship between personal space and the female's menstrual cycle was found. The personal space zone tended to be larger during the menstruous flow than during the approximate middle of the cycle. Results were discussed in the context of sexual responsiveness.
Adolescent↗
Attachment in infancy and personal space regulation in early adolescence.
This study longitudinally assessed associations between secure and ambivalent attachment with mothers, fathers and professional caregivers in infancy, and personal space regulation and perceived interpersonal competence in 64 early adolescents (31 boys, 33 girls). Children classified as ambivalently attached to their mothers and/or professional caregivers in infancy displayed significantly larger permeability of personal space as compared with children classified as securely attached. Attachment classifications with fathers were not associated with personal space behavior at 12 years of age. Children who had an insecure attachment relationship with both the mother and the professional caregiver in infancy displayed smaller personal space boundaries, and tolerated larger intrusions into their personal space as compared with children who had two secure attachments in infancy. Finally, perceived interpersonal competence was positively correlated with personal space permeability.
Adolescent↗
Personal space, body image and leadership: an exploratory study.
Personal space and boundary scores of black female leaders and non-leaders were compared (N = 26). Results showed that personal space scores distinguished the groups, while boundary indices did not.
Adult↗
Personal space invasions in the lavatory: suggestive evidence for arousal.
The hypothesis that personal space invasions produce arousal was investigated in a field experiment. A men's lavatory provided a setting where norms for privacy were salient, where personal space invasions could occur in the case of men urinating, where the opportunity for compensatory responses to invasion were minimal, and where proximity-induced arousal could be measured. Research on micturation indicates that social stressors inhibit relaxation of the external urethral sphincter, which would delay the onset of micturation, and that they increase intravesical pressure, which would shorten the duration of micturation once begun. Sixty lavatory users were randomly assigned to one of three levels of interpersonal distance and their micturation times were recorded. In a three-urinal lavatory, a confederate stood immediately adjacent to a subject, one urinal removed, or was absent. Paralleling the results of a correlational pilot study, close interpersonal distances increased the delay of onset and decreased the persistence of micturation. These findings provide objective evidence that personal space invasions produce physiological changes associated with arousal.
Arousal↗
Personal space of incarcerated offenders.
Administered the proxemic test (Kinzel, 1970) and a psychometric test battery to 49 incarcerated offenders on two occasions. Offenders also were rated by staff on their interpersonal behavior, and a 3-year follow-up was undertaken to assess recidivism. Immediate test-retest reliabilities were extremely high in all four directions (.93 to .97), but lower over a 10-week period (.65 to .89). The Behind distance was largest on both occasions. There were no changes in the four distance measures over time. An algebraic formula was devised to calculate Personal Space Area. Age was related inversely to offender's Personal Space (r = -.32, p less than .03). Personality measures, observation ratings, and follow-up outcome data were related inconsistently to Personal Space Area, although there was some indication that offenders with a large personal space were less empathic, less socialized, less accepting of others, received poor evaluations, and were more likely to recidivate. The utility of personal space in the assessment of offenders is discussed.
Adolescent↗
Personal space and density as factors in task performance and feeling of crowding.
The study was an investigation of the effects of density and personal space on simple and complex task performance and on feelings of crowding on 60 female Hindu students in India. A 2 x 2 design was used. Density was manipulated by varying the number of subjects in a fixed room space (social density), and the stop-distance technique was used to measure personal space. Results revealed that complex task performance was adversely affected by a high-density condition and by the personal space of the subjects, leading to a significant interaction effect of the two variables, but no significant main or interaction effect was found for the simple task performance. The subjects with "far" personal space under the high-density condition evaluated the environment of the experimental room as most crowded, more than any other subject did.
Adolescent↗
Relationship between spatial density and sensory overload, personal space, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Selected effects of high spatial density were investigated with 26 boys, serving as their own controls and undergoing alternate confinements in high and relatively low spatial density. Measured effects were changes in minimal aversion threshold values of white sound, projective measures of desire to alter room size, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure. High spatial density increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure and projective measures of desire to alter room size but did not affect minimal aversion threshold values. Semi-projective measures of personal space requirements were obtained prior to experimental trials. Analysis showed a significant interaction of minimal aversion threshold values with requirements for personal space; the minimal aversion threshold values of subjects requiring large personal space tended to decrease following confinement under high spatial density. The interaction of personal space with projected measures of desire to alter room size was not significant. High spatial density may, then, exert adverse effects on blood pressure and may induce sensory overload conditions in individuals requiring large personal space.
Adolescent↗
Determinants of personal space in young children: perception of distance cues.
Two methods of assessing personal space in young children were examined in a group of 24 boys and 24 girls, aged 3 to 6 yr. When sex of peer figures and affect attributed to them were varied, 3-yr.-olds made distance-cue judgements based on affect but failed to use affect cues in structuring personal space. However, 4- to 6-yr.-olds readily perceived and used distance to communicate the affective quality of peer relations. On both measures, perception of distance cues increased with age. Only girls also used sex of figures as a social cue in depicting appropriate distances.
Affect↗
Personal space smoking restrictions among African Americans.
OBJECTIVES: This paper investigates the association between implementing a personal space smoking restriction for the home or automobile, and various sociodemographic, social, behavioral, and attitudinal variables. METHODS: Approximately 1000 African-American adults (aged >18 years) residing in non-institutionalized settings were randomly selected using a cross-sectional stratified cluster sample of ten U.S. congressional districts represented by African Americans. RESULTS: A 62.0% and 70.4% ban was found, respectively, on smoking in homes and cars. Multivariate analysis revealed that region, marital status, number of friends who smoked, beliefs about environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), and smoking status predicted home smoking bans, while age, number of children in household, number of friends who smoked, and beliefs about ETS and smoking status predicted car smoking bans. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that a substantial segment of African Americans have accepted and translated public policy concerns about ETS into practice and reveal other variables that could be targeted in future interventions to increase implementation of personal space smoking restrictions.
Adolescent↗
[Personal space as a function of eye-contact and spatial arrangements of a group].
Two experiments were conducted on personal space as a function of eye-contact (Exp. I) and spatial arrangements of a group(Exp. II). In experiment I, interpersonal distances were measured using 30 female students in three eye-contact conditions in which subjects wore semi-dark sun-glasses, mirror glasses or no glasses. In experiment II, thirty-six female students served as subjects, and three subjects formed a group and stood abreast (arrangement A), then the middle person took one step forward or backward (B, C) against an approaching male stranger. The stop-distance technique was used for both experiments. (1) As the intensity of eye-contact was reduced, smaller personal space was required for subjects to feel comfortable. (2) Significantly larger space was required for subjects who stood outside (A, B) of group-shared space than inside (C).
Adolescent↗
Visual neglect for far and near extra-personal space in humans.
The possible dissociation of unilateral neglect in far and near extra-personal space was systematically investigated using a modified version of the Wundt-Jastrow area illusion test. This task, which requires no motor response, has been shown to be sensitive to unilateral neglect. Stimuli were presented at two different distances (near and far) to a group of 70 patients with right hemispheric lesion (18 in acute and 52 in chronic stage). Twenty-eight patients evidenced unilateral neglect; that is, they displayed unexpected (i.e., contrary to the known illusory effect) responses when the stimuli were perceived as oriented toward the left side. However, performances in the two conditions were highly correlated and there were no individual instances of dissociation. These results suggest that the presence of a motor response may be necessary to show behavioral dissociations between different parts of extra-personal space.
Adult↗