perry et al

• describe the psych being investigated

  The psychology being investigated is interpersonal distance is affected due to factors such as the relationship with the person, the cultural norm. empathy is of two types affective and cognitive empathy affective is the ability to feel others state and cognitive is to determine others state. oxytocin affects the interpersonal distances however it is effected by the level of empathy

  key words :

  - oxytocin

  - affective empathy

  - cognitive empathy

  - cultural norms
• what is empathy

  the ability to recognize and understand another's feelings and opnionis
• what is the social salience hypothesis

  - it predicts that oxytocin increases attention to social cues and affects how a person responds to these cues dpeending on social setting
• what is the aim of the study

  to investigate the differential effect of oyxtocin on personal space in relation to the level of empathy (high or low empathy)
• what is the method used in the study

  laboratory experiment
• what is the experimental design in the study

  - mixed experimental design

  - independent measures design for IV 1

  - repeated measures for for IV 2 and 3
• what are the 3 independent variables

  - empathy ; low or high

  - treatment ; oxytocin or placebo

  - condition (exp 1 ) ; ball, stranger, authority or friend
• what are the dvs in the two experiments

  - experiment 1 ; prefered distance measured between pp and object

  - experiment 2 ; preffered distance and angle between 2 chairs
• describe the sample of the study

  - 54 male graduates from Uni of Haifa

  - normal vision

  - no history of psychiatric or neurological disorders
• what is the age range of the pp

  19-32
• why were the pp taking part in the exp

  - for payment or course credit
• how was empathy measured

  - the interpersonal reactivity index
• Describe IRI


  28 item self report ; 4-7items
• how were people seperated into high and low empathy groups

  - if you scored 40 or more than 40, you were "high empathy"

  
  

  - if you scored below 33, you were "low"
• how many ppl were high and low empathy

  - 20 high

  - 20 low
• how often and when were pp asked to partake in the exp

  they came in twice, 1 week apart the same day and same time
• - desc the procedure when oxytocin was administered

  - pp were either given a solution of 24 international units in 250 ml internasal oxytocin or placebo saline solution

  
  

  - this was self administered using a nasal dropper, under the supervision of the experimenter. There were 3 drops to each nostril

  
  

  - a double blind technique was used

  
  

  - half the pp were given oxytocin the first week and saline the next and vice versa
• how were aspetcs of the study counterbalanced

  - the order of exp were cb, so half the pp did experiment 1 frst and half did 2 first

  - administering placebo and ot were cb
• describe the procedure after oxytocin administration to right before the pp did the experiment


  - they completed the interpersonal reactivity index online

  
  

  - after the questionnaire, they had to wait in a quiet, comofrtable room and were given magazines

  
  

  - after the 45 mins, the exp started
• why did the pp have to wait 45 min


  to allow the OT to get in to their CNS
• describe experiment 1

  - the pp were shown a computerized animated verson of the comfortable interpersonal distance tets

  
  

  - it showed the name of the figure for 1 seconds ( friend, stranger, authority or ball)

  
  

  - it showed a fixation point for 0.5 secs

  
  

  - pp were shown a circular room and a person in the middle, the pp had to pretend they were in the middle

  
  

  - then the figure enter from one of the 8 entrances and moved towards the middle along a radius for 3 seconds

  
  

  - pp had to press a space bar to indicate where they'd like the figure to stop

  
  

  - the animation ended when the figure collided or when thepp pressed the space bar

  
  

  - the percentage of remaining distance from the total distance was calculated
• how many tirals were there for exp 1

  there were 24 trials for each of the 4 figures , so 96 in total
• what was measured in exp 1

  the percentage of the remaning distance from the total distance
• Describe what objects there were in experiment 2

  - in all the rooms, there were 2 identical chairs in the middle, a plant, a clock, table, cupboard and lamp
• describe experiment 2

  - pp were told that after participating in the 2 rounds of experiments, that they were going to have a talk with another about personal topics in a room

  
  

  - they were told that an average room would be calc based on their preferences

  
  

  - they were shown a computerized image of pair of rooms and had to choose which room they preffered

  
  

  - in all the rooms, there were 2 identical chairs in the middle, a plant, a clock, table, cupboard and lamp

  
  

  - the pairs of rooms differed in one of the following parameters ; the distance between the 2 chairs, the angle between the chairs, the distance between the table and plant and the angle of the table and plant
• what were the different conditions in exp 2

  experimental :

  - the distance between the 2 chairs ( 20-140 cm, in 20 cm intervals)

  
  

  - the angle between the 2 chairs ( 0, 45 or 90 degrees)

  
  

  
  

  control

  - the distance between the table and plant ( 200-320 cm, in 20 cm intervals)

  
  

  - the angle between the table and plant ( 0 ,45 and 90 degrees )
• how many diff images are there in exp 2

  21 different pairs of chair distances, table plant distances and 21 comparitive angles
• how many pairs of pics were shown to pp

  84 pairs, and this was repeated twice so 168 in total
• what was calc in exp 2

  mean distance and prefered angles between the 2 chairs and between table and plant
• describe results for exp 1

  - pp with high empathy under oxytocin prefer shorter interpersonal distance ( 23.29 %)

  - pp with low empathy under oxytocin prefer longer interpersonal distance (30.3 %)

  
  

  -the less the pp knew the figure, the longer the interpersonal distance, example friend (12.46) vs stranger (39.82)
• desc results for exp 2

  high empathy prefered closer chair distances following OT administration than placebo (78.07 cm )

  
  

  low empathy prefered farther chair distances following OT administration (80.14 cm)

  
  

  - Ot and empathy had no effect of the distance between the table and plant
• what was the finding for the correlation for the IVS in exp 1 and 2

  there is a moderate corr between the distance chosen in exp 1 under placebo and average chair distance chosen in exp 2 under placebo treatment
• what are the conclusions

  people with low empathy respond to OT with a preference for increased personal distance and people with high empathy respond to OT with a preference for decreased personal distance

  
  

  people need less distance between themselves and close friends compared to strangers
• eva the ethics

  - deception ; lied about exp 2 that the pp were going to talk to other pp in a room about personal topics

  
  

  - consent ; there was informed consent

  
  

  - there was protection from physical harm harm ; nasal droppers were pain free and no side effect from ot and placebo.

  
  

  - debrief ; pp were debreifed
• who approved the study

  was approved by uni of haifas ethics comittee and hadassah med centre
• give 2 strenghts

  1. Laboratory experiment

  - controls and standardized procedure allow for control of extraneous variables and replication

  
  

  2. Ethics

  - there was consent and debriefing

  - approved by uni of haissah ethical comittee

  -protection from harm ( use of nasal spray was painless)
• give 2 weaknesses

  1. Sample

  - 54 males (andocentric bias)

  - from uni of haisa (assuming there is ethnocentric bias)

  
  

  2. Low ecological validity

  - also low mundane realism

  - not in a real life setting ; depending on social situation and other social cues such as body language and tone of voice, personal slace may vary
• give an application of the study

  - for high empathetic individuals struggling with communication in social situations, OT may be perscribed to them to help them ease into those situations and decrease their level of preffered personal space

  
  

  - for low empathetic individuals, OT should not be perscribed to them as it may cause further difficulty in social situations
• Evaluate the study in terms of the individual or situational debate

  Individual :

  preferences for personal distance is dependent on whether the person is empathetic or not, if they are empathetic, the distance decreases, if they are less empathetic, this distance increases

  
  

  situational :

  personal distance also depends on the relationship we have with the other individual, if they are a stranger, the space is greater and if they are a partner or friend the space decreases.