Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Personal Space”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

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↗
PubMed1978

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↗
PubMed1976

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↗
PubMed1991

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↗
PubMed1976

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↗
PubMed1976

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↗
PubMed1977

Projective assessment of personal space among retarded and nonretarded children.

A figure-placement method was used to examine the personal space usage of 60 mildly retarded and 60 nonretarded children of comparable MA. Spatial distance between a self-figure and second figure for both groups was least when the second figure was designated with positive affect, greater when designated with neutral affect, and greatest when the designation involved negative affect. Retarded children used less spatial distance than nonretarded children when the interaction involved a self and teacher figure, supporting Zigler's (1973) positive- and negative-reaction tendency formulation. More space was used by both groups when the second figure was designated as not smart than when designated as smart.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

The personal space of hard-of-hearing children after extended contact with 'normals'.

A group of hard-of-hearing children integrated into a normal public school for a year were found to exhibit similar personal space to that of normal children. Another group of hard-of-hearing children who attended a special institutional school for the deaf, on the other hand, exhibited greater interaction distances under varying dyadic interactions with a 'normal' person. Practical application of the present results is discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1975

The effects of subjects' age and expectations regarding an interviewer on personal space.

How close individuals seat themselves to an interviewer was studied as a function of subjects' age and expectations regarding the interviewer. An experimental approach situation was used and the subjects were 10 college students and 10 residents of a county home. Those subjects who had been told to expect an unpleasant interaction seated themselves significantly farther from the interviewer than did those who expected a pleasant interaction. Also, the older subjects seated themselves significantly farther from the interviewer than the younger subjects did. The difference between the age groups was minimal when the subjects' expectations were positive, but was pronounced when the subjects' expectations were negative. The results appear to reflect a greater susceptibility among older individuals to feeling threatened and ill-at-ease in an interpersonal situation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Perception of crowding and personal space as a function of locus of control, arousal seeking, sex of experimenter, and sex of subject.

Twelve male and female college students served as Es and individually administered the following tests to a total of 72 male and female college students: Mehrabian and Russell's scale of Arousal-Seeking Tendency (AST), the Nowicki-Strickland scale of locus of control (ANSIE), a crowding perception test (CPT), and a figure placement task measuring perceived comfortable interpersonal distance (CID). Contrary to prediction, zero correlations were obtained between AST and CPT scores and between ANSIE scores and CID distances involving strangers. Low but significant correlations between CPT and CID scores were obtained. Analysis of variance of CID scores revealed a significant interaction between sex of S and locus of control that was not easy to interpret, and significant effects of degree of acquaintance, status, and sex of an approaching peer. A significant sex of E effect indicated that distances were larger with a female than with a male E. AST scores were larger for female than for male Ss, and larger with a male E than a female one.

Adolescent↗