Perry et al

• Psychology Investigated


  Interpersonal Distance: It is the distance between two people. The preferred interpersonal distance varies due to the relationship with the other person and cultural and personal factors.

  Empathy: A person's ability to understand another person's thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It has two dimensions: cognitive and a
• Background


  In 1966, based on the relationship between two people, Hall created four zones of interpersonal distance: Intimate distance, personal distance, social distance, and public distance.

  In 2012, Scheele found that administering oxytocin to males in relationships increased their preferred distance from an attractive female in the presence of a female researcher.

  The social salience hypothesis predicts that oxytocin increases attention to social cues and a
• Aims


  To investigate how oxytocin a
• Experimental design


  Research Method: A laboratory experiment. Experimental Design: Repeated measures.
• Sample/Sampling


  Sample: 56 male undergraduate students from the University of Haifa in Israel. They were ages 19 to 32 and received course credit or payment for their participation.
• Procedure


  Oxytocin administration and empathy assessment

  1. Participants visited the laboratory twice a week- at the same time.

  2. First visit: given either oxytocin or placebo in a double-masked procedure.

  3. Three droplets of the solution were self- administered into each nostril.4. Participants completed the IRI-interpersonal reactivity index.

  5. Then, I waited 45 minutes alone in a quiet room with nature magazines.
• Experiment 1


  CID

  1. The word- Friend, stranger, ball or authority would

  appear on screen for 1 second (they were the four

  protagonists)

  2. participant gazes at the
• Experiment 2


  Choosing rooms

  1. Instructed that they would be having a meeting with another participant.

  2. To discuss personal topics

  3. The room would be laid out per their preference

  and measured through a computer program.

  4. The computer showed participants still colour

  images of pairs of rooms with chairs, tables and

  plants at di
• Ethical issues


  Deception- For experiment two, they were told that they needed to choose a room to discuss "'personal topics'- this could cause distress about the future meeting.
• Strengths


  High Levels of Standardisation increase its reliability. The computer allowed control of timings, and the rooms used in experiment 2 were always shown for 2 seconds.

  High Validity: With a double-masked procedure for oxytocin or placebo administration, the CID paradigm has high controls regarding speed visuals.
• Weaknesses


  RI self-report would be biased and subjective- impacted by social desirability bias as being highly empathetic is seen as a positive social trait.

  Lacks generalizability beyond sample- only used males, so the results may not be generalisable to females and their interpersonal distance preferences.

  Low ecological validity- used a computer stimulus where the protagonists were animations not representative of everyday behaviours.
• Issues and debates


  Application: Oxytocin administration may not help people with social de
• Results


  Preferred interpersonal distance. Oxytocin Placebo

  High empathy (23.29) (26.11)

  Low empathy (30.20)(26.98)
• Result


  Preferredinterpersonaldistancebetween OxytocinPlacebo chairs (cm)

  High empathy (80.58) (78.07)

  Low empathy (78.33) (80.14)